Summer Growth for a Healthy Life, Marriage and Job.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:01

Please do ask me fighting a lawyer with the highest ratings for honesty and integrity. Your lawyer go into love. Go in love. Go in one has more than 20 years of experience fighting for his clients. You're in the stage of that. Go into the legal matters. Go in love.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

You can always listen to our podcast on Apple, Spotify, my YouTube channel. You can check us out there. Remember, if you have a legal case, better call Joe. It's all you need to know in the state of Alabama. We want to mention our feature sponsor, Flat Fee Real Estate of Birmingham. They have been in business for over 10 years. They're locally owned and operated. They have 50 years of experience. If you're buying or selling a home in the state of Alabama, Flat Fee Real Estate is all you need to know. My office represents people from Huntsville, Birmingham, Montgomery Mobile, and even the Tuscaloosa area. Okay, it's been an interesting week, and uh we're gonna um get into some topics the first hour, and then the second hour we will talk about some state and national legal news and some politics that have happened in the last week. First hour we're gonna continue our journey uh from last week. We are gonna spend some time over the summer working on self-help, self-growth issues for those that want to be better people, have better relationships, whether you're marriage, whatever it may be, we're gonna work on those issues. So we're gonna continue that conversation in the first hour. Uh if you need to call my office for representation, call 205-825-5297, 205-825-5297, or look us up on the web, joeinggramlaw.com, joeinggramlaw.com. That's all you need to know for representation in the state of Alabama. Okay. So that covers all the good stuff. Okay, so last week, if you listen to our broadcast, we talked, we were starting to talk about some help, self-help issues. Those that I deal with in relation to my clientele that are going through a divorce or coming out of a divorce, are those that are in the middle of a criminal case or just ending a criminal case, moving on with their life. All of this material is even relatable to whether you want to have a better relationship with your spouse or your partner, whether you want to have a better job, or whether you want to become an extraordinary person. So I have challenged you that if you listen to this broadcast, and those of you that have reached out to me said, I accept the challenge. Let's do this together over the next six months. So that's the kind of material we're going to talk about in the first hour. And none of it is sappy for you guys out there, okay? This is all important to all of us, me included. So this is the kind of information that I want us to finish out season two of our show. If you remember last week, I talked a little bit about having a goal list. And I even mentioned having a goal list of possibly 300 goals. Remember that? Not 10, 25, 50. I'm talking about 300, okay? And so when you talk about these goals, these are not, hey, I want to win the lottery. You know, I want my wife to disappear. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about really stretching your mind of things that you can actually achieve in your life in a single year. And you have to be really honest with yourself and self-evaluate. You have to have self-awareness. Before you can run, you have to walk. Before you grow, you need to know where you stand. And as my seventh grade civics teacher told me, JB Williams, I loved him. You can't teach what you don't know and you can't lead where you don't go. You can't teach what you don't know and you can't lead where you don't go. He said that so many times, it's stuck in my memory bank, and yes, I'm in my 50s. I love JB Williams. So these are things that I practice. I'm not just preaching. And yes, I am the world's worst at taking my own advice. Okay, so let's talk about some of these things. First of all, let's see, where should I start? There's so much good information. Um what are the behaviors or the addictions that you are repeating in your life that sometimes you make the same mistakes again, again, and again. And I do these. You have to have a clear and decisive vision plan of what you imagine three years down the road. So I want you to think about 36 months from now, summer of 29. Think about that. Summer of 29. It's hard to think about that for a minute because most of us can't even imagine 12 months from now, much less 36 months from now, okay? Of what you want to be in 36 months or what you envision to achieve in the next three years of your life. It's even harder in our society because we live in the in the me moment. We're not China, we're not foreign countries. They think 100 years down the road. England thinks about 100-year increments for the king or queen of England. We we we just live in a fast society now. So I want you to think in terms of the next three years of what you want to achieve or what you want to stretch your mind to do. Okay, so let's let's think about this for a mother for a minute. How do you want to feel in three years? Do you want to feel better or do you want to feel worse? If you want to feel worse, don't exercise, don't drink water, don't do yoga to stretch, to keep your balance, to keep your spine in alignment. If you don't do those things, you're not gonna feel better in three years. If you do those things, more likely than not, you're going to feel better in three years. Um best life or are you living day-to-day? Are you living in the moment, or are you living for the future? So I want you to pick three things. Three big things, three big issues. And what I mean by that is uh you can't accomplish everything at once. You're not gonna be able to accomplish all your goals and all your goals in three years. But I want you to pick three or four big issues that matter most to you right now that you have put on your goal and that you plan to accomplish in 36 months. Whether it's, Joe, I'm gonna go get some more education and I need to figure out how a way to pay for that. I want to work on my health, I want to work on my finances, I want to be out of debt in three years, I want a better relationship with my partner or my spouse. I want a better relationship with my chair children. I want a better relationship with my parents or my in-laws, as I joke about so often. Uh, maybe it's going to get a new set of skills related to AI. UAB has just started a new class dedicated to social media. So if you own a business and you need to go learn how to brand and social media and all these new technologies, UAB is offering something like that. So, whatever your goals are, pick three or four that you want to accomplish. And then you've got to sit down and do the really hard work. And we've talked about this. There is a difference between a goal and a dream. A goal has a plan. When you pick a goal, it has to have actual meaning. Not winning the lottery, something specific. Like for me, in three years, I plan to travel to Dubai by the summer of 29. I really want to go to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia. I really want to travel and see the Middle East by the summer of 29. So, how do I do that? I break it down. Joe, what is this trip going to cost me? And maybe I start saving enough and I divide it by 36 months. So, unless gas or jet fuel is off the market in three years, potentially I know what it's going to cost me to travel and take this trip. Something like that. Something tangible that you can tick off and make actually happen. That's what I'm talking about. Or maybe it's obtaining a degree. What does it cost me to go back to school to get this education? How am I going to pay for it? Is it worth my time and effort to get that master's degree? I am being told now most graduate schools know that they are in jeopardy because there's no point in getting graduate degrees unless you get an MBA or a master's in nursing, something like that, healthcare work. Um colleges are going to start have to rethinking their business model. It's just a fact of life. Okay, so that's what we're talking about. All right, this is really good stuff. Now, this takes constant discipline. Steps to achieving your goal. You have to build skills and habits to be the better version of yourself. What do you do daily? The type of documents you read, the sources of information, the circle of people that you're around, they are going to have either a positive or negative effect on whether or not you achieve your goal and your journey in life. You have to plan your routine with intention for a successful day. This does not happen by accident, folks. Every Sunday when I go to my office at one o'clock, every Sunday when I get to my office at one o'clock, I write out my list of to-dos for the week, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. These are things that have to be accomplished that week. And these are what I call my non-negotiable items. No matter what else I have, whether it be a court, deposition, new clients, these are things that have to be marked off before I leave the office or my office has to achieve in that week. So you have to be disciplined and you have to write them down your to-do list and you have to do the hard work every day. These are what I call my mandatory items, and they're on my desk. Whatever 9-11 fires come up, these get accomplished no matter what. Okay. Now, here's the next thing you have to accept. You have to expect the unexpected. There are going to be emergencies. There are going to be landmines. There are going to be obstacles put in your way. There are going to be people that are going to tell you you can't achieve this in your circle or your family or your friends. They're going to be negative. Okay? So there's going to be landmines and there's going to be people around you that are not going to be rooting for you to accomplish your goals. If you remember last week, remember when I told you every stone that they throw at you, keep it, because one day you're going to get to throw them back. Well, guess what? This is what I'm talking about. Those that are in your circle or orbit, the naysayers, listen to them. Take it all in, write it down, and when you accomplish your goal, whatever it is in life, you're going to get to throw it all back at them at one time. How fun it is in the end. Okay? So just keep a journal of those people and what they say to you that you can or cannot do.

SPEAKER_03 15:14

All right.

SPEAKER_01 15:17

Now, this list that you're working on of our goals for self-help, your journey to being a better person. Go back and look at them once a month. Go back and look at them once a quarter. See what progress you're making. Now, I don't want you to start beating yourself up and say, well, Joe, I didn't accomplish this in the last month. Or Joe, I didn't accomplish this in the last three months. I'm falling behind. Okay. Be flexible with yourself. We're human. We're all flawed. We all fall short of the glory of God. Figure out where you're messing up, figure out where you're falling short, regroup, fix it, and move forward. We all fail. That's human nature. You have to be flexible. If you don't accomplish something and whatever time frame you set out, it's okay. You're evolving. If you're being disciplined, and discipline means consistency, you're going to go further down the road than 85% of the other people or your competition that are standing around beside you. So the best thing to do is work on your plan every day. Being disciplined and consistent beats perfection every time. Discipline and consistency beats perfection every time. I believe that. So while we're working on ourselves, the next bit of advice is for those of us that are entering our 50s. And I just celebrated a milestone recently, and I'm not real happy about the AARP card that they send you in the mail. Why, I don't know. I didn't ask for it, but thank you for sending it to me anyway. And the other day somebody said, Are you a senior citizen? Would you like your senior citizen discount? I said, Absolutely not. I do not want a senior citizen discount. I refuse it. It did not make me happy. So for those of you that are in your 50s and you're on your journey to being the best version of yourself, because I really believe you can't be yourself until you get into your 40s or 50s. You have to have a little gray hair, a little wisdom. You have to lived a little life to be the best version of yourself. So for those of you that are with me between now and December, these are the big things that matter. Peace matters more than being right or proving a point. Peace matters more than being right or proving a point. Your health is your greatest asset. If you have your health, you have your greatest asset, more than money. I've said this many times. Next, the greatest commodity on earth is time. You can't get time back. And if you're in your 50s, you're starting to realize that you have less days in front of you than you have behind you. It's just a fact of life. So you gotta make every single day count once you get in your fifties. You don't get any second chances. Time is your greatest commodity. Alright, this next one's gonna hurt for some of you out there. Um not everyone deserves a second chance in your life. Some people you have to close the door on. And that can even be a family member, that can be someone that has been a friend of yours. You you've learned information or you found out something, and you have to create a wall or a boundary for yourself to protect your inner peace. So sometimes you have to remove people out of your life and create a boundary for your own journey and peace in your 50s. Um this next one is true, and there's nothing wrong with it. And let me say this two ways your circle of people may be getting smaller, but it also may be better than having a larger circle. What I mean by that is, well, Joe, I have 1,800 friends on Facebook. Okay, well, out of that 1,800 people, tell me how many are going to come to your house at 2 o'clock in the morning when you say, Bring a shovel and don't ask any questions. That's the kind of people I'm talking about in my circle. Not 1,800 friends on Facebook. I'm talking about your circle of people that are gonna be there no matter what happens at the end of the day. You call them at two and say, hey, I need you to get in the car and don't ask any questions. All right, ride or die. Let's go, Joe. Let's go do what we got to do. That's the kind of people I'm talking about in my circle. And also, you also want the people around you to be smarter than you. If you think you're the smartest person in your group, you are in the wrong group of people. I want to be around three or four people that are smarter than me to learn from every single day. I really mean that. Okay. Here's the next one to think about. Um your inner peace is more important than whatever you're holding on to. If you have a grudge against somebody, you got to let it go. Let it go because your inner peace is more important than whatever you're holding on to for your happiness. Uh happiness comes from simple things like the joy of running. For me, my running is the equivalency of somebody in their twenties that have a BMW or a Mercedes. I've had a lot of cars in my life, and yes, I'm gonna say this is I'm I'm almost embarrassed now. Do you know that I've had fifty-nine cars in my lifetime on this planet? And I don't care. Guess what I have now? I have a car that's paid for. That's what I care about. So what you care about in your 20s, you're not going to care about in your 50s. My running is my most simplest happy joy in life. You have to find the simple things in life that make you happy every single day. And I don't care what anybody cares about what I drive. I I don't have to impress anybody. My car's paid for. It doesn't cost me a dime other than gas that's I paid $339 the other day. Okay. All right. So here's what's next important to you. You have to get those out of your life that are drama. Remember last week when I talked about those people that suck the life out of you? You have to set boundaries that are non-negotiable. Uh you have to set boundaries sometimes with your in-laws. And uh I even had somebody in my family that had an addiction. And the best way I had to set a boundary was every day at a certain time, we blocked their number so they couldn't call and upset our household. I hated to do it because I was afraid one day I'd get a call and somebody would tell me that they were dead. But you had to set boundaries for you and your family. Those are non-negotiables. Other non-negotiables for you might be, saying, telling your employer that you refuse to work weekends or holidays. You don't want them to interfere with your personal health. You don't want them to interfere with your exercise, your diet, whatever your non-negotiables are for you that keep you peace and on your journey, that's what you have to decide to do. Uh gosh, we already did the first segment. We're going to go to Newton Weather, and we will be right back after the break.

SPEAKER_02 24:13

Okay, let's make up a legal lowdown with your lower. Go in. If you need to update a legal help after, we can have it to go at it. Goinglove.com for more. Go with right back after it is ready for you and weather. Go inward. Go with a clear veteran of the Alabama Court, specializing in criminal defense and family law. If you need a private legal consultation, go in the law. And now welcome back to the legal.

SPEAKER_01 25:31

As always, Flat Fee Real Estate of Birmingham is the sponsor for a show. If you need a real estate agent, please call Flat Fee Real Estate of Birmingham. They've been in business for over uh 10 years. They're locally owned and they have 50 years of combined experience and they're great. We were talking during the break about uh what our content the last two weeks, and I said, Do you think people would pull over on the side of the road and set themselves on fire? They said, Well, if this was on a Friday afternoon, yes, but maybe for Saturday morning you have your cup of coffee. Uh, maybe you get something out of this. Uh I do not profess to be Dr. Laura or Oprah. I just find this content to be relatively uh useful in my practice of every day. And I think this might help you if you listen to our show. All right, so back to what we were talking about. We're talking about our journey, we're talking about being a better person, we're talking about our intangibles. Um, so um, okay, the next one that I want to talk about that's really important. Sometimes you got to be what we call like Michael Jordan. You have he used to say he would let the game come to him. You have to live in the moment. Sometimes you cannot rush things, whether it be in your occupation, your profession, your extracurricular activities, whether you practice yoga in your marriage, you have to be present in the moment and let it unfold naturally. You have to wait until you see that you are achieving your goals. And I'm gonna give you a real simple one. This time of year, I love to see my daylilies and my hydrangeas blooming in my yard. I love my blue hydrangeas. And yes, we've had a lot of rain lately. As bad as I want to cut my hydrangeas, remember last week when I made this statement, sometimes you cannot cut your flowers. You have to let them grow. As a gardener, you can't always cut off what you're working on. So, as bad as I wanted to cut my hydrangeas the other day after all the rain we had, I said, no, I'm just gonna let them grow a little longer. I'm gonna be a little bit more patient. Okay. So sometimes just be present in the moment and let things come to you. Don't rush everything. If you remember last week, I mentioned several books that I've been reading for content for work purposes. And one of the books that I mentioned was Learning to Love Yourself. This is a great book. And no, it's not sappy. This is a great book if you're coming out of a divorce: Learning to Love Yourself. And there were some great takeaway lines that hit me. And so here are some more that uh I met somebody this week and they said, Joe, I was listening to your show about uh that book, Learning to Love Myself. And uh so I had a conversation with them for about 10 minutes. And here are some more takeaway lines from that book that I think are absolutely phenomenal. Not all storms come to disrupt your life, some come to clear your path. Not all storms are bad. A clarity that hurts you is better than the hopeful confusion that holds you. The best way to identify a great friend is how they react when you win. Have you ever noticed sometimes when you have a success and you tell somebody and they're not happy for you? Well, those may be secretively jealous or envious of your success. Some secretly root for your failure, or they hope that you don't succeed in whatever you're trying to do. It's just a fact of life. Um next one. Um things that are happening in our life every day doesn't wait for you to feel ready. It starts the moment you decide to try. So that goes back to last week. You can't wait for the right moment to sail your boat. You just gotta put your boat in the water and go out and try. You can't wait for the right moment. Uh and if you fail, at least you tried, you pick yourself up, and the next time you may succeed. And uh it's okay to fail because that means you're at least making an attempt to do better. It's okay to make a failure. I fail every day. It's okay. I said this one last week and it came up in uh in a conversation to someone that listened to the broadcast. And this one is so true that any lesson that you refuse to learn will repeat itself until you do. I'll say it again. Any lesson that you refuse to learn will repeat itself until you do, meaning, quit making the same mistakes over and over again. I am so bad at taking my own advice. There is nothing in this world that can cause you trouble as much as your own thoughts. And I've said this before. People that are going through a divorce, a criminal case, you are in the eye of the storm. It's not as bad as you think. You're letting your mind control the fear of the unknown, of what's out there, and you cannot do that. You have to make decisions. Some people will not understand your words, and some people will not even understand the words. And those that don't understand the words may understand you. Think about that for a minute. You could talk to some people and they will not understand the words, you're speaking to them, and you can be around another group of folks, and you don't even have to say anything, they understand you. Let me explain that for a minute. There can be people in your life, you could have children, you could try to teach them between right and wrong. You can tell them why you don't need to drink and drive, and you're preaching to the masses, and they're not ready to hear the message. Then again, you can have people in your life, people in your orbit. There are some people you just have chemistry with, and you can be together and you don't have to say anything, but you understand each other.

SPEAKER_02 32:40

You're listening to The Legal Lowdown with Joe Ingram. Joe is a 20-year veteran of the Alabama court specializing in criminal defense and family law. If you need a private legal consultation, email Joe at JoeIngramlaw.com. And now welcome back to the legal lowdown.

SPEAKER_01 32:59

Alright, we're back to the final segment of legal lowdown for the week. Uh WERC 105 in Birmingham, WBHP up in Huntsville, and WRTR in Tuscaloosa. Okay, we got 25 minutes really fast, cover some topics here. Um goodness, uh, it goes by so fast every week. We live for this. Okay, uh, I'm gonna tell a quick story, and then I want to update you on a criminal issue. If you have a criminal case, uh experts are coming more and more needed, whether it be a reconstruction expert or someone to do a cell phone search. I have a criminal case that I've been talking about for several weeks that the judge has finally ordered the cell phone search, but they will not cough up the cell phone. But we're gonna get there. We are grinding a way to get it, so we will get the cell phone search. Okay. Uh I want to talk about one of the first the very first child custody case I ever had as a lawyer. The very first child custody case I ever had as a lawyer. This is a really good story, and I'm gonna tell you why. It's sort of like David versus Goliath. David versus Goliath in my world. Here's why. I had uh gone out on my own. I was sharing space with some lawyers. Uh very good lawyer took me under his wings, gave me an office, fed me some cases to keep me alive. And uh I was taking cases from the Alabama law, Alabama Bar Law Referral Service, and uh there was a case that came to me that was a child custody case. Uh, mom had custody of the child and the uh father, they were divorced. Father was the fun parent. So every time that the child went to visit dad, he had a trampoline, he had four-wheelers, he had property, he had a pool. They did all the fun, cool stuff with dad. He had a boat, he had jet skis. He was fun, he made good money. And uh, so the child got to be about 14 years of age. Mom was struggling to be mom. She was the disciplinarian. She made the child get ready for school every day, make him do his homework. He was making good grades. Um, but he he thought he wanted to be with dad. Dad's fun. I have more fun with dad. I don't have to study, I don't have to bathe, like leave it to beaver. He wanted to be with dad. So dad filed for a change of custody. Mom didn't have a lot of money. Mom comes and hires me. And she says, Joe, can you guarantee me that I'm gonna keep my son? No, ma'am, I can't. Because under the rules of ethics, I cannot guarantee you any outcome, just like a doctor cannot guarantee that if you have that open heart surgery, you're gonna get up and walk off the table after he splits your chest open and separates your ribs. Anyway, so the father hired a very prominent divorce lawyer in the community, one of the best, somebody that I looked up to, somebody that uh I was actually intimidated by. I was scared to death. Couldn't tell my client that because you you don't want your doctor about to cut on you thinking the doctor's not qualified to do the surgery. And so every day or every week I would check in with my mentor on my case. This is what I'm doing, this is what I'm working on. Tell me what I need to go do next, what do I need to do differently? They just guided me along the way, but Joe, it's your case. You gotta you gotta do it, son. The only way you're gonna learn to try cases is to do them yourself. But a child custody case is the most important case in this world that you're ever gonna have, other than a fight for your freedom and a criminal trial. The two toughest cases in this life are either a fight for your child or a fight for your freedom. I know I'm not wrong because I've done both. Anyway, my client didn't have the money to afford a deposition, so I couldn't take the deposition of the ex-husband. She said, Joe, I just don't have it. You're gonna have to go try the case blind. You want to take try you want to take depositions in civil cases because you want to ask every question and a deposition so that when you get in the courtroom, you reasonably think you know what the answer is to the questions. But I didn't have the money and the budget for this case. We we were we were just getting by on pens and needles. And so, during the course of this case, the father got really, really full of himself. The child would go visit on Friday after school, and guess what? The child wasn't coming home on Sunday night. The child was staying with father on Sunday night, father would take the child to school on Monday morning, and then the child would not come home to mom until Monday night when he got off the school bus. And this happened six custodial visits in a row. Six times the father told a 14-year-old child, son, don't go home on Sunday night to mom. I'll take you to school Monday morning, don't worry about it. I'm gonna get custody anyway. I got the best lawyer. Uh your mom's lawyer's probably not any good, just got out of law school, didn't have a chance in Hades of winning this case. Don't worry about it. I got you. Well, they made a mistake because uh I did meet with the child, even though he wasn't very uh forthcoming in his testimony with me, but he did give me enough to prepare the case for trial. And uh I had mother file a police report every Sunday night that the child was supposed to be home by I think it was six o'clock. So six weekends that the child is supposed to be home at six, my client would call me, I'd say, call make a police report. Well, Joe is not doing any good. I said, just trust me, make the police report. Okay. So it actually takes about almost a year to get a trial in Jefferson County. And it did at that time and it still does to now. And we have a trial, and uh the other side was not really worried about me. In fact, on the first day of trial, the opposing counsel lawyer walks up to me and says, uh, Joe, you do not have a chance of winning this custody case. The boy's 14, he's gonna testify he wants to be with Daddy. And uh, son, I'd hate for you to start out your career losing your first custody case. Uh is there any way I can get you to talk your client into uh to giving me custody? Uh she she won't have to pay child support. Uh you know, we're we're gonna give her liberal visitation. And uh here's what I'm gonna do for you, son. Here's what I'm gonna do for you. You you talk her up into giving up that child. Whatever your attorney fees are, we're gonna pay them to you. Can you believe that? That actually happens. Now I have a duty to go tell my client any offer I'm presenting. And so I go in a conference room with my client and I have to give her the news. They've asked if you would agree to give up custody of your child. Uh, they're gonna not even make you pay child support. They don't they don't want your money. They're gonna let you see the child, and guess what? They're gonna pick up my tab today and you can walk out of here. Can you imagine your lawyer telling you that on the day of trial? You're thinking, my lawyer has just sold me out. No, I haven't. I have a duty to present you the offer. And if you're a really good lawyer, you learn to put it in writing, and you either make them accept the offer or reject the offer, and you put it in your file in case later they come back and they try to file a bar complaint against you. Yes, this happens. And my client said, No, Joe, I'm going to accept whatever the judge gives us in this case today. I've put my faith in you, and I've put my faith in God, and I believe the truth shall prevail in a courtroom. Okay. We gotta go do it. We had an excellent judge. We had an excellent judge. He called balls and strikes. That's what you want from a judge to call balls and to call strikes, regardless of personalities, regardless of relationships, regardless of how long you've known this lawyer versus that lawyer. Listen to the facts, listen to the evidence, and let justice prevail. And that is tough in a bench trial, especially in divorce court. So we tried the case. Uh dad goes first because dad filed the petition. And uh when I cross-examined dad, I had the police reports of the six weekends where he told the child to violate the court order and not come home. Now, I made a crucial error. I had certified records, but I didn't have an officer there to um validate the records, if you will, to get them in as evidence. I made an error. And the other lawyer was really good of keeping the police reports out. On cross-examination with dad. He was a very good lawyer. And the judge was watching me, and you could see sweat coming off my forehead thinking, I'm losing this trial, and I'm going to pay dearly for this because I don't know how to get the evidence in properly. I don't know what I'm doing. It's called trial and error. And yes, you learn by trial and error in a courtroom. But after I sat down and I didn't get the police reports in, guess what the judge did? The judge saved me. The judge told the father in the witness box. He looked over at him. He said, I have a few questions for you, sir, before you get off the stand. I want to remind you, you're under oath. Can you imagine the man? He's starting to sweat. He's a little concerned. Judge said, On X date, did you not send the child home to mama on Sunday night at six o'clock? The man sat there, looked at his lawyer. Judge said, Your your lawyer can't advise you what to say, sir. You're in a witness box, you're under oath, and I'm a judge, and I'm sitting right next to you. And the father said, No, sir, uh I I told him not to go home. So you you you you ordered your son to violate a court order and not to go home to mama on a Sunday night. And you didn't even call her and tell her that her son was coming home, did you? No, sir, I didn't. That's number one. That's number one. The judge did that for each six consecutive weekend visits that the father told the child to violate a court order and not come home on Sunday night. That's really good stuff. These are the kind of moments in a courtroom you live for. So then dad gets out of the box and the son testifies. Oh, I love dad. Dad's great. Dad's got a trampoline, dad's got a boat, dad's got sea-doos, dad takes me fishing, dad takes me hunting. Um, you know, my dad is just the greatest thing on earth. What about your mom? Oh, I love mom. Mom gets you ready for school? Yeah. Mom give you lunch money or fix your lunch? Yeah. Mom make sure you bathe? Yes. Mom take you to the doctor? Yes. Mom take you to the dentist? Yes. Um go to parent teacher conferences? Yes. Does uh mom make sure you have money even if she doesn't have lunch money for her to eat on? Yes. Does uh mom make sure that uh you get to participate in extra in all your extracurricular activities in school? Yes. Does mom encourage you to go be in the Boy Scouts? Yes. Does mom do this? Does mom do that? Okay. What's wrong with your mother? Boy set there. What's wrong with your mother? Nothing's wrong with my mother. Do you love your mother? Yes. Here is the biggest error. And it was so pompous. That lawyer put a 14-year-old child on the stand in front of mom and dad in a courtroom to pick one over the other. You don't do that. The way you do it, if you do it, is what we call in camera, meaning mom and dad are not in the courtroom. You don't put a child on the stand to pick between mom and dad. He's got to live with that the rest of his life. It's wrong. So anyway, I couldn't be too hard on the 14-year-old boy. I just needed to get my points across to the judge that mother was a good mother. There was no reason to justify a change of custody other than dad was the fun dad. And for all of you out there that have this uh notion that a 14-year-old child or a 15-year-old child has the authority to decide where he wants to live or she wants to live, and the court has to accept it. No, that is not the law in Alabama. The law in Alabama is what is in the best interest of the child. And a 14-year-old is still a child, to the best of my knowledge, and I've never had children. Mama is the best for this child all day long. So then mom testifies. Mom did a great job, and uh the opposing counsel couldn't attack her too much now because it looked really bad. He was very soft on her. We only had three witnesses, but the trial only lasted about a day and a half. And so at the at the end of the trial, uh, this is unusual in divorce court, but I think the judge was so mad he he wanted to go ahead and tell what was going to happen. This is one of the greatest, greatest victories of my early career. The judge said, uh, first of all, he went and called a bailiff from the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office over to the courtroom. He did. I didn't know what was about to happen. I I was so clueless, I didn't realize what was happening. And he said, uh, Dad, uh, I'm gonna find you in criminal and civil contempt of court for violating a court order. And guess what? You're gonna serve five days of jail time for each instance of contempt of court. Now think about that. Six times he violated a court order. Multiply that five times six. That's real jail time. Do you know I was shocked sitting there in the courtroom? The opposing counsel jumped up.

SPEAKER_00 51:03

Judge, my glass is gonna lose his job. You can't put him in jail.

SPEAKER_01 51:08

This really happened. I love what the judge said. Uh I'm just gonna make up a name because I'm not gonna give it away. Uh, Bubba, don't worry. We're gonna take him to work every morning at seven. We're gonna have a deputy take him to work, and the deputy's gonna pick him up at six and bring him back to the jail. And he's gonna he's not gonna lose his job. We he's gonna keep his job, but he's gonna stay in jail because he violated a court order. He admitted it. Lawyer sat down, his face was red, he was older. I thought he was gonna have a heart attack or a stroke, honest to God. And he looked over at me and he was so mad. And I did this. I put my hands in the hair and I was like, oh my God, I won. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to win. I felt bad. I thought, oh my god, he's gonna kill me. And so the judge said, Mother will retain custody, dad's going to jail now. Get out of here. I don't want to see you, and I'll get an order out. I was so happy. My client hugged me, she cried. I cried because I won. Justice prevailed that day. I was so happy. My office was about four blocks from the courthouse, and I literally skipped back to my office that afternoon. And so I saw the opposing counsel walking down the street, and yes, this really happens, and this is what's so funny, John. I was so desperate for money those first couple years trying to make it. And he was so prominent. I walked up to him and I said, Bubba, can I have a job? I've I've proven that I'm a pretty good lawyer. He said, Would you get away from me? He said, You just beat me in a courtroom. He said, You know you put my client in jail. He said, Man, what he said, what in the world's wrong with you? Get out of my face. I said, Sir, can I can I have a job? I really need a job. I actually asked him for a job after I just beat him in the courtroom. Uh after that experience, the opposing counsel became a good friend of mine because I had four more cases with him over my career. And every time after that, he was always overprepared for me after that first experience. So sometimes when you start your career and you're the underdog, that is the best thing you can have going for you, is that the opposing counsel does not consider you an equal or an advocate for your client or a good opponent. You're the underdog. You can beat them if you overprepare for your case. You can. Isn't that a great story? Yeah, I love that story. Here's the sad thing. Do you know you're gonna remember the losses more your than your wins? The losses that I have are the stories that keep me up at night of the custody cases that I should have won and I've lost. That's the saddest part of doing divorce court. Are the ones that I should have won and I lost. Anyway, I thought that was a good story. I love to tell that story, and no, none of it's made up. It's all true. Anyway, okay, before we get out of here today, uh, final thought of the week. I love endurance sports because they remind me that my body isn't my strongest asset. My mind is. Your mind is your strongest asset. If you know who David Goggins is, he is a former Navy SEAL. He's on Instagram. I follow him, I love him. He is an ultramarathon runner. Uh I would love to go spend a day with David Goggins running through the desert. I don't know if I could survive, but I would not give up unless I died if I could spend a day with David Goggins. Uh he is phenomenal. So if you don't know who he is, go look up David Goggins on Instagram. He is absolutely phenomenal. Okay, so we're getting to that time of the summer. Next week, we hope to have a guest. We think we're gonna have a um marriage counselor. Is that correct? Am I making that up? Yeah, he's shaking his head, yes. Uh, we're going to have a marriage counselor and um for the first hour. I think it's going to really be a good interview because we've had judges, we've had other lawyers. Now we're going to have somebody that does counseling for people in marriages. And as I've always told you, I don't necessarily promote divorce. If you can go to marriage counseling and save your marriage, I'm all for that. So this should be a good interview if you listen into the first hour next week. As always, I want to give a shout out to Flat Fee Real Estate of Birmingham, Flat Fee Real Estate of Birmingham. If you need a real estate agent, they've been in business for over 10 years. They're locally owned, they have 50 years combined experience, whether selling or buying, they're the name to know in real estate in Birmingham, Flat Fee Real Estate of Birmingham. If you have a legal need, please reach out to joeincrumlaw.com. Joe Ingramlaw.com is all you need to know. 205-825-5297, 205-82597. I got it wrong last weekend and I'm actually embarrassed. This weekend is Father's Day. So if your father is alive or your grandfather is alive, go give him a hug and tell your dad how much you love him. Because you only have one set of parents. That's all you'll ever have. And mom and dad love you no matter what you do in this world, good, bad, or indifferent. Your parents are your best. All right, this has been a great show. I've enjoyed it. I hope you enjoyed the program. Please reach out to me. We've been getting some uh good cards and letters from people. Have a fabulous week. We gotta go. Bye.

SPEAKER_02 58:13

Thanks for tuning in to the legal lowdown with your lawyer. Joe Ingram, Joe Ingram Law. Don't forget to follow Joe's Legal Lowdown Podcast. If you need a private legal consultation, reach out to Joe on his website, JoeIngram Law.com. Tune in again next Saturday for the legal lowdown with Joe Ingram. No representation is made that the quality of legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of legal services performed by any other lawyer.

SPEAKER_01 58:42

If it's your partner in life that you've been with for a long time, you can be sitting on the porch and be looking at the birds or the hummingbirds and say, you know, you make a thought, and your spouse will say, I was just thinking the same thing. Because you're in unison, you're in tandem. I love how that works out for people. I think that is so interesting. You just have the you have great chemistry. You've picked the right partner, and so it makes life so much better. This next one is really interesting. This next one involves bees. Yes, I'm talking about bees. That honey is better than manure. Bees do not waste their time explaining to flies that honey is better than manure. Now, yes, you have to have manure to grow crops. Yes, you do, but guess what? I was I was watching a documentary about two weeks ago uh about the ancient Egyptians. I learned something. Did you know that honey lasts forever? And they used to put honey in with the Egyptians, the um what do you call it? The um the tombs that they would wrap the Egyptians in. They put honey in there, and it's still good today. So honey lasts forever. I found I found that really fascinating. Okay. As long as you have your dice, you still have a chance to roll and win. Think about that. As long as you have the dice in your hand, you have a chance to roll and a chance to win. Um interesting thought there. Now, this is really important. Sometimes you have to let others have the spotlight and their moment. The ultimate form of preparation is not planning for the specific moment, but a mindset that can handle the uncertainty. You can't always plan for everything that's going to happen in a courtroom, but over time you prepare for things that are going to come up in the middle of a trial, and you prepare for the uncertainties. That takes time, growth, and wisdom to do that. And that can also affect your everyday life. The little 911 emergencies that come up in everyday life, such as your wife has a blown tire, your wife has a car wreck, your child has a medical emergency, um, your business suffers a downturn. You're not collecting all your revenues. Do you panic and bail? No. You've you've weathered some storms, you're you've got growth, you've got maturity, and you're able to see the forest for the trees. That's what we're trying to achieve here. Uh and one of the best examples of this is Ben Franklin. He has so many achievements, so many patents. He failed again, again, and again, uh, but he created the light bulb. Look at Elon Musk. He almost lost Tesla. Uh, I saw a report on him in the last week. And in 2008 or 2009, he was so close to selling Tesla to Google. And then when he developed SpaceX, the first two times that the rockets blew up, and on the third time, his uh business was on fumes, and the third rocket passed. And guess what? The federal government called him and gave him a contract at Christmas time, and he said it it saved his businesses all on the third attempt. So you can be wrong 10 times and on the 11th time if you get it right, that's all that matters. This next one's really important. Think about this for a minute. If you were to fail 30 times, if you were 30 failures away from reaching your goal, whatever your goal is, how fast would you want to fall and fail? Think about that. If you knew you only had to fail 30 more times at whatever it is you wanted to achieve, how fast would you be willing to fall so that you could reach your prosperity to your goal, to your dream, to your destiny, to whatever the best life, to whatever the best version of yourself you wanted to be in 30 days from now? You'd say, start the clock, let's fail, let's fall, and let's get on to prosperity. Think about that. You're not as far from your goals and your dreams as you think you are. You just got to keep plugging away every day. And I'm guilty of this. As much as I have studied history in the world, I have never really traveled, and it's always been because I put it off and I say, well, I'm gonna do this when I get older, when I've saved more money, when I have more time, I'm gonna go to Europe next summer, and it never happens. Well, last week I told you, this time next year I plan to be in Europe, and I'm gonna try to stick to that as best I can, because there are no more opportunities other than the day that you have on this earth. So that is that is something I'm working towards next year. All right. So this next one is interesting. Uh people that want to be around you, that want something from you, that want to gain something from your relationship, as to pose to those that really want to your company that are there for you when you when when you need them. I'm talking about a good friend, a good neighbor, someone that you consider a little wiser or older, that you ask for their advice about personal decisions, business decisions. Don't discuss your personal business with them, but ask them, hey, how would you handle this situation? These are the kind of people you need in your life. How would you handle this situation? So, the more statements I read from that book, Learning to Love Myself by Alex Aubrey. It's a great book. It's very helpful for those that are restarting their lives and those that are coming out of an addiction, coming out of a bad relationship or wanting to be the best version of yourself. This next section we're going to talk about, if you'll notice. All these things kind of go together hand in hand. They're not independent. They are all running themes. And all these things are used every day in my practice for those that I'm canceling through a divorce and they're coming out of a criminal case and they're starting a new life. Either they are overcoming a criminal case that's been resolved. And the best way to move forward is how do you heal yourself? How do you heal yourself and move forward and take care of your body? First is sleep, eat well, drink plenty of water, simple foods. Um second, come down off the cross. And what I mean by that is let yourself off the hook. Come down off the cross. We're all human. We all fall short of the glory of God. We've all sinned. Let yourself off the hook. You have to learn to let go. That's really important. And healing. Next, stop replaying the past. You cannot live in the past. You have to move forward. The past is simply the past. Except if you've been hurt, whether you have been emotionally hurt by your spouse, maybe you have been physically hurt by your spouse, maybe you've been hurt by a parent, by a child, by your employer. It's okay to acknowledge the hurt and the pain. Give it a name. Acknowledge it. Okay? Look in the mirror, acknowledge the pain, deal with it, and move forward. And this next one's really important. Forgiveness. Forgiveness is not for them. Forgiveness is for you. That doesn't mean that the person that hurts you is necessarily right. It just means that you've let it go in your heart or your mind, and you're not letting them control your mind anymore. You see all these running themes here, how these all go together, how it's all important for your mental and spiritual and physical health. Setting healthy boundaries. Do not feel guilt about setting healthy boundaries. I'll say it again. I had somebody in my life that had an addiction, and the best way I learned to deal with it is every day at a certain time, I blocked that number so they couldn't call and have access to me and upset me at night, so I had to worry about them and their life. Sometimes you have to set boundaries to protect yourself so that you can have peace every day. It's tough, but you have to make those decisions. Okay. So as we continue on our journey of things to work on individually to come to become the best version of ourselves, there are seven addictions that you must break as a person to be your best self. Are you ready? Comparison is the thief of joy and the thief of the day. You cannot compare yourself to your colleagues. You cannot compare yourself to your competition. It is not fair to you. Everybody is on their own journey in life. We're all guilty of this, me included. You cannot rush your goals. We are dissatisfied with where we are in life at this moment in time, and we have feelings or emotions of inadequacy. And so we we we compare ourselves to our colleagues or to our neighbors who's doing better than us and and how we're doing. Can't do that. Here's a different way to look at it. Just say something simply positive or a phrase of gratitude every day. My morning ritual is when I wake up, is today is a good day, today is a great day, and I will be better today than I was yesterday. And I say that three times when I get out of bed. Today is a good day, today is a great day, and I will be better today than I was yesterday. Just something simple like that. Okay, next is called instant gratification. What feels good at the present moment often will cost you later. It may feel good now, but the hard work will hurt later. You have to be disciplined. Being weak in consistency will offset this every time. So here's an example. Complete the hardest thing you have to do every day on your plate in your job, whatever it is. Whatever is on your desk that you look at and you say, I don't want to touch that file. Go ahead and touch it first, knock it out, eat the big elephant, and knock out the hardest thing you have to do. Just tackle it first. I I had to do that this week. I had to work on a file, and I thought, well, if I do this on Monday, it's gonna take probably all of Monday. Okay. Well, when I go in Tuesday morning, that file's done. I moved on. I ate the big elephant on the plate. Just go ahead and knock it out. Okay. Covered down. I heard someone tell me one time that the comfort zone is where dreams go to die. So use this as an example to offset it. 80 use the 85% rule. If you are right 85% of the time, you're not perfect, but if you're right 85%, that means you're being disciplined and consistent, and you're ahead of your competition every day. So use that in your life, the 85% rule. Be 85% consistent and disciplined. That's what's most important. It will move you forward and whatever you want to achieve. And in my office, I told you, I have a list on my desk every Sunday of my non-negotiables that have to be completed Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, no matter what else. Those are my non-negotiables. Whether I until I leave the office, those get achieved no matter what 9-11 fires we have to put out. Okay? So see how these things run together. This is good stuff. I love this stuff. All right, next one. We're all guilty of this. We all have what is called iPhone addiction. If you are staring at your screen, you are missing the world around you. I have created a new rule in our home. When we have dinner, phones are down, sound is off. We are actually talking to each other and having communication. I was in a restaurant the other day for a business meeting at lunchtime, which means that most people are having business meetings. And everybody had their phone out looking at their emails and Google and the news. Well, if you're in a business meeting, give them the time that they deserve and your attention to look at them. Now, I understand that the iPhone has replaced newspapers, journals, books, weather, stocks. I understand the iPhone is probably the greatest thing that's ever been invented. But there is a time and a place for everything. iPhone addiction is hurting all of us as a society. So just be a little bit more cognizant in your time with the iPhone addiction. Okay? That's all I'm asking you to do. Not change your life. Just be conscious of these things. Just give it a little respect. All right. This next one's really important. If you have big decisions in your life, think about them. Don't make the decision right then. If you have an email to send out to a colleague, business associate, whatever, write the email, put it in a box that's marked draft. Don't send it right then when you're mad. Wait a day. You may decide to change that email. You may decide to edit. And John's over there kind of grinned at that one. See, some things I get right. So if you're on the side of the wrong can of gas, just hang on just a minute. Every now and then we get one right. Okay. For me, between my head, my heart, and my gut, for me, my gut is usually right. I don't rely on my head. I don't rely on my heart. If my gut tells me something's right, I trust my gut. And if I feel like something's wrong, I trust my gut every time. And if I'm wrong, I'm wrong. But more often than not, my gut tells me what to do. Okay. All right, procrastination. We've talked about this. Do not procrastinate. Procrastination kills your goal. It leads to missed chances, opportunity. It causes stress because all you're thinking about is that thing that's on your desk you need to do, that conversation you need to have with an employee. I guess we're at the bottom of the hour. We're going to go to news and weather. Then we're going to come back. We're going to finish some of these topics. And then we're going to get to some legal news, uh, both nationally and state topics. We'll be back after the news and the weather. Please stay tuned for the second hour. Legal lowdown with Joe Winger.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:44

Go in. If you need confidential legal help, we have to go out. Go in the law. Go with that capital. Do this means of a legal lowdown. Go inward. Go with the clear veteran of the Alabama Court specializing in criminal defense and family law. If you need a private legal consultation, email go at goinglom.com. And now welcome back to the legal load.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:17

All right, we're back for the second low. Ineverable legal low damage go in from your Alabama lawyer on WERC 105 here in Birmingham, WBHP in Huntsville, and WRTR in Tuscaloosa. Thank you back for the second hour. First hour was working on our self-growth, self-help topics. And um want to give a shout out to Flat Fee Real Estate of Birmingham. Flat Fee Real Estate of Birmingham, they've been in business over 10 years. They have 50 years of combined experience. If you need to buy or sell a home, Flat Fee Real Estate of Birmingham are the people you need to call. All right, just a couple more things on a hit, and then we're going to go to news and weather. There's some big topics we need to hit for the week. Okay, I read this article the other day. I love this. It's from a person that had been married 60 years, which is everybody's goal. It was a grandfather talking to his grandson. Grandson asked, What's the secret to loving some woman for a lifetime? I expected him to say communication trust, date nights. Instead, he looked at his wife or the grandmother and said, You don't love the same woman that answered. The grandson stopped for a second, and then he said, She changes every few years, and if you don't update the way you love her, you will lose her. The woman that I married at twenty-two was not the same woman. At thirty, motherhood changed her. Hardships changed her. When she hit forty, she needed respect more than romance. At fifty, she needed partnership more than she needed passion. And at sixty, she needed presence more than promises, just being present in the moment. And then the grand man, the grandfather, paused for a moment and added, Every time she changed, I had a choice. I could complain that she wasn't the woman I fell in love with, or I could fall in love with the woman she was becoming. And then he said something that the grandson would never forget. The biggest mistake people make is thinking that love stays the same. They fall in love once, then they stop paying attention, loving someone for a lifetime. Means staying curious about the person, keep learning from them, keep noticing them, and keep choosing them because the moment you stop discovering the person beside you, someone else eventually will. So the secret to a sixty-year marriage is not love, it's that they not they never stopped getting to know each other and growing together. My grandparents were married for 43 years. They worked together, they had a grocery store, they had a barbecue pit, they had a huge plantation of crops, and they had a lot of rental homes, and they were true partners in life. I love that story. Love that story in the month of June because everybody gets married, John. Marriage is no longer considered required for a happy life. Saw that the other day. All my divorced lawyers out there were gonna be out of a job in ten years. People don't need to be married anymore to be happy. All right. So let's get to some big news from last week. Last week we celebrated flag day. Last week we celebrated President John Donald John Trump's birthday. And uh for his birthday, he had the UFC fight at the White House. And I watched it. And it's also in celebration at the beginning of our 250-year anniversary coming up for July 4th, the Declaration of Independence. And uh I loved it. I mean, it lasted a long time, but I watched the whole event. And guess what? There were a lot of people at the White House, but if you looked across the uh the river, there was a huge swath of people. I'm told it was in excess of a hundred thousand people there as well. That's a lot of folks. Okay. Now, here's where I'm going with this. This is really important. As soon as it was over on Sunday night and President Trump took off to the G7, uh all these people that are in celebrities and the Democrats came out. Cheryl Crow. I love Cheryl Crow's music, but I have deleted her off of my iPhone because she came out and said that it was disgusting what she watched on TV. Are you kidding me? Um here's why I'm appalled. I just if you're a singer, I just want you to sing. I don't want to know about your politics. Um they they just trashed Trump. Well, let me tell you what's really important. They bashed a sport that is all about competition, that is about beating your opponent into submission. It's about warfare. Um, all these things are relevant in uh winning elections in this country, and especially in Washington, D.C. If you don't think politics is a blood sport, you are wrong. Politics is nasty business. All you witnessed Sunday night was good, healthy competition of people in a match fighting to win or lose. That is it. It was great. Now, I want to take you back for a minute. You're not going to hear this anywhere else but from me. Did you know in the summer of June of 23 when President Joe Biden, who has dementia, had a party on the South Lawn to celebrate transgender activism. Get ready for this, folks. They had transgender people on the South Lawn of the White House that were bare breasted on TV talking about how great it was to be transgender. They think that's more acceptable than watching a UFC fight. Are you kidding me? Get out of here. I I just I'm amazed. And these are the people that look down their nose at us. The ones that think we are white trash, the ones that think we are common people that go to Walmart and stink. Do you remember the email exchange between, what was her name? Lisa Page and Peter Stroke, that said, Yeah, I can smell them. They're from Walmart. That's what they think of us. Middle class people. Well, if that's true, there's a lot of us out there. So uh you need to check your moral compass at the door of where the heartland of America peoples are. Um I thought it was a great event. I really did. I loved it. And by the way, uh, it came out this week that there was another attempted attack that the FBI averted for that event Sunday night, and they just did a spectacular job. Uh I it's been reported this week that roughly 23 people were involved in an attack on the White House that night. Oh, and guess what? Who the ring leader was? Are you ready for this? He is an illegal alien. He's a Mexican. He's what they call he's what President Obama calls a dreamer. He's a dreamer part of DACA. He came to this country to have a better life. Have you seen his mugshot smiling? Twenty-three people wanted to attack the White House that night and everybody there. And there were people there from all types of life. Did you know Mark Zuckerberg was at the White House Sunday night for the fight? Did you know that? There were a lot of people there from cross sections of business community, politics, all over the country. Mark Zuckerberg must have liked it. He was there. He runs Facebook. So thank God they protected us from Abraham Alvarez and the other 22 people that wanted to kill the people at the White House again, and President Trump, who is the presiding resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for at least, what, two more years? He is. Thank God for him. Okay. So we talked about last week that the Alabama Medical Marijuana Board has finally started issuing cards from medical marijuana. There was an article this story in the news about medical marijuana. Alabama is actually ahead of the country for life. Thank God. We got it right once. Let me tell you what we're talking about here. Did you know in the state of Alabama, if you are a female between the ages of 11 and 50, and yes, I said female, remember those on the left that said they can't even identify a woman? Well, guess what? Only women, to the best of my knowledge, can get pregnant and have children. Am I wrong on that, John? John's shaking his head. Okay. So if you are a woman between 11 and 50 and you want to get your medical marijuana card, guess what? Every 30 days, Alabama law says you have to take a pregnancy test. And so all the leftists and all the people on the left wing said, you know, this is an infringement of those for women. They shouldn't have to take a pregnancy test. Men aren't taking a pregnancy test. Well, no, men can't get pregnant. Here's why. Here's why. This is why this is so important. If you are a woman and you are using marijuana, and even medical marijuana, in whatever respect it is, whether it be a jelly, uh, edible, whatever it is you're consuming, they have done studies, and physicians have determined that if you use medical marijuana, it can affect a child, it can affect birth weight, the child being premature, uh, the brain having defects. So all of these issues are in the best interest of the unborn child in the state of Alabama. We have one of the strictest laws in the country to get medical marijuana in the country. For once, I am proud that Alabama got it right by the state legislature. Congratulations. You did it. I'm proud of you. I didn't even know that until I learned it this last week. I think that is a fabulous story that is a mandatory requirement. Okay. So if you follow politics, there was a lawsuit filed against uh Senator Tommy Tubberville related to whether or not he was a resident or a um, hmm, will we say resident or will we yeah, resident to to run for governor of Alabama. That lawsuit got dismissed. Well, a new one got filed this last week in the state of Alabama in Montgomery, and it was filed by a lawyer named Barry Ragsdale. Now, he is not a joke, he is a serious lawyer, he is a serious-minded man, and I actually went and pulled the complaint and read it for myself. It is roughly 24 pages in nature, and it is lengthy. And uh guess what? They've even got exhibits in there. They went and got a Google picture of Tubberville's compound and Santa Rosa Beach. I did not know this. I kind of knew it, but I didn't know this. Tubberville is within a mile of me on Santa Rosa Beach. I didn't know that. He's right down the street. And then they attached another exhibit of the property in Lee County. And there are a lot of facts in there about Tubberville claiming uh in 2006 or eight that he didn't want to run for governor. He didn't want to have to put up with the fight about whether he was a resident of state of Alabama, so he let that go. And they talk about he's voted in Florida. There are a lot of facts in this complaint. Uh this is this is not a joke. This is this one's for real. And uh so this is going to be interesting to watch here in the next 90 days because I think this thing will have to be decided by Labor Day. They've already issued discovery. Joe, what is discovery? They've already asked Senator Tommy Tubberville questions under oath to answer. And guess what? They've already sent out a deposition notice to Senator Tubberville and his wife to be deposed under oath. These are very interesting uh observations of this complaint that was filed the last week in Montgomery. This is going to be very entertaining to watch. Not that I want it to secede or fail. I'm just talking about as a person that practices law, this is very good entertainment, if you will, to watch and see how this turns out. Okay. So we had the uh runoff of the primary elections this last Tuesday. Remember that? Uh I predicted it. Uh statewide turnout was roughly what 10% of the population of Alabama. Yeah, it's summer. And uh it rained real heavy in Birmingham uh on Tuesday. Uh when I went to vote at roughly 7:30, it was pouring down rain. So that affected the turnout as well. So 10% of the people determined the runoff elections from for some of the biggest races in the state of Alabama. For the Republican ticket of the United States Senate race, for the Democratic side of the ticket for United States Senate race, for the uh Republican side of the ticket for attorney general. Um I got I got those right. Barry Moore won handedly. Uh I was a little shocked that Jared Hudson carried the states in the middle district of Alabama. I think he carried Jefferson, Shelby, Blunt, these the northern middle districts. John's shaking his head over at me. Yes. I'm trying to keep up. I've had a I've had a really tough week. I have been punching it about 16 hours a day. No excuse. Um, but Jerry did well in the middle part of the state. But uh Barry Moore, for all intents and purposes, will be the new senator for Alabama. Uh Catherine Robertson, that race was called really early. She beat Jay Mitchell by what, 30,000, 40,000 votes, which is a pretty wide margin and a runoff. So Catherine is going to be the attorney general for all intents and purposes for the state of Alabama come uh January of 27th. And kudos to Miss Robertson. She will be the first female attorney general of the state of Alabama, and I am very proud of that. And Catherine, by the way, if you're listening, you can't give up your day job. You cannot go be a ski instructor. You you've got a pretty important job, at least for the next four years. Congratulations to Catherine. Um, what else was decided? Oh, the AG race. We had Corey Hill. Corey won that race. Um there were some elections uh for some judges for people on the state board of education that were decided. Um I believe the race for sheriff in uh is it Morgan County? I believe the sheriff lost, and the person that was there and and the sheriff fired the person actually won that race. If I'm wrong, I apologize, but I think I got that story right. Um uh oh, and by the way, this week Governor K. Ivey appointed four people under the new law to the Alabama Public Service Commission. If you will remember, I was against that to begin with, but uh I am I'm not ashamed to say when I'm wrong. The four people that K. Ivy picked to be on the Public Service Commission, all four of these are star people. Uh I think two of the four have worked in higher education at universities in the state of Alabama. One is a lawyer at a major law firm here in Alabama that has experience in energy law. So these are four quality picks. I was, I got it wrong. KIV picked four rock stars for the Public Service Commission. Even though I totally disagree with how this was done, these are star candidates. So I'm not ashamed to say when I got it wrong. Uh, Ziggler, Ziegler beat uh Beaker for the Public Service Commission. Am I right on that? I think I am, but I also think it's because Ziggler's been around a while. He has probably more name recognition. I think that's probably why he may have won that race. Not totally sure on that one. Um, it's hard to keep up with a lot of all this in my day job, too. So um that is some news on the elections from this last week. And uh so we don't have to listen to any more commercials either on radio or TV. And yes, I know iHeartRadio loves the revenue, but you'll get some more revenue in the fall uh related to that. So it'll be back around. And uh I'm thinking about a career choice. I'm thinking about either becoming a political pundit. Uh, you can hire me if you're a Democrat in the state of Alabama and you want to try to learn to get Republican votes. I'm I'm I'm available for hire. I'm a hire gun. Uh I'm I think I'm pretty good at what I do. Second of all, I am thinking about a career choice. I am seriously considering becoming a lobbyist in Montgomery. This is a good position. I think this would be a good career change for me. I'm thinking about becoming a lobbyist. All I need to get is about uh 15 to 20 good uh clients, and I could start my own lobbying firm. So that is something that I am seriously considering in a career change, and I'm not joking about it. Seriously thinking about that. All right. So um before we start talking about some other news legal issues that's happened in the week, uh, I want to remind you that my law office not only represents people in divorce and criminal law, we represent people in whistleblower lawsuits. And I almost got one last week. A whistleblower lawsuit is where you work for a company and you know of something that's happening on the inside that's either violating a federal law or a state law. Uh maybe they are not paying their taxes, or you are a driver for a trucking company and you know that they're doctoring the logs for how many hours truck drivers are reporting between the time that they drive and the number of hours that they're off the clock. If you have if you have a whistleblower lawsuit, please reach out to me. We can assist you with those cases. We also represent people with that are plaintiffs in car wrecks. We have a number of new plaintiff car wreck cases. If you've been a tractor trailer accidents, we can represent you there. If you've been a victim in a motorcycle accident, we represent plaintiff and motorcycle accidents. If you've been injured on the job for a worker compensation case, we represent those for workers' compensation. And if you file a worker's compensation claim and you get fired immediately, which we call retaliatory discharge, we can represent you as well for workers' compensation and retaliatory discharge. The difference is in Alabama, a lawyer only gets 15% of a worker's compensation claim attorney fee, but under a retaliatory discharge, you can receive more if you are a plaintiff if you can prove that you were fired for cause for filing your worker compensation claim. We represent the folks that are in bicycle accidents, or if you are a pedestrian and you were hit on the side of the road. I almost witnessed one of those the other day. It was very scary. It was on uh uh uh Mountainbrook Parkway. So uh we're gonna go to break, and after we do news and weather, we're gonna come back and we're gonna have the final segment for the week. Please tune in and listen to the legal lowdown. As always, flat fee real estate of Birmingham. Flat fee real estate of Birmingham. If you're buying or selling a home, those are the people to call. We'll be back after news and weather.

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