Wildswanderer
Veteran Member
What part are you arguing with? That there isn't such a system, or that it wasn't the democrats?
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Still love your guns, America? Fourteen elementary kids and teacher killed in Texas
- Thread starter Evangelicalhumanist
- Start date
You're right that some people are takers unwilling to give in return. But there are many other kinds of people being helped by public programs for the needy.
Somebody once defined Republicanism as the fear that somebody who doesn't need assistance is getting it, where Democrats fear those needing it not getting it. Both can happen. You can't have one without the other. One can be as diligent as possible, and skew those numbers toward the good as much as possible, but there will always be wastage, grifters, parasites. So what do you do? Deny them all, pay them all, or use a Magic 8-Ball to pick which you treat as which?
My wife has a girlfriend from her youth still living in San Diego County, where they met and first worked together. They email one another every day about their day. My wife and I have an evening ritual on the terrace when the sun is going down, where she reads the "Lindy Chronicles" to me, the last two letters they wrote. Lindy is a success story, but not her two brothers - one (John) a bad guy like you imagine and describe above, and another (Rob) a good heart now on hospice, who made bad decisions that kept him in the same desperate condition as his unlikeable parasite brother with no character. The brothers have played a major part in the Chronicles ever since Lindy's father died a year ago when there were estate matters to attend to involving them, with Lindy, the only responsible one of the three siblings, being the executor. So we heard about John trying to steal from his siblings and Rob being clueless and needing direction.
And I'm with you when I hear stories about John's duplicity, how he exploits others including his sister as much as he can. I'm a Republican when I'm hearing about this guy. This guy will never help the world again except on his last day on it.
But Rob? I can't forget him when I read comments like yours above that define the needy receiving government benefits in the basest of terms. They're all parasites to many. In the Reagan and Bush Sr. era, they were all welfare queens.
The other big difference is that we do quite a bit about those other causes of death.
Yes, the US's number of road crash fatalities is shockingly high, but at least there isn't any real opposition to things like airbags, seatbelt laws, or rules that say you can't drive your car into the mall.
In contrast, the gun lobby fights tooth and nail against pretty much any proposal to reduce gun deaths.
Wildswanderer
Veteran Member
The question would be: is this person capable of working or is he truly disabled,? I don't understand why that's so difficult to determine. But so many play the system... and it is allowed.
It is not allowed. Fraud is prosecuted.
What strikes me about your comment and the many comments about guns from the gun advocates is the complete lack of any interest in the needs of others. I just wrote a post about there being two kinds of people involved, those in need and those gaming the system, gave you an example of each from the same family, and all you can say is to wonder if they aren't both gaming the system, with zero interest in the possibility that there is a legitimate need with one.
With the guns, I've yet to see a comment that indicates any idea that there is a gun problem that needs attention or that people are suffering. It just doesn't matter. It's all acceptable as long as nobody restricts their ability to be as armed as they feel they need or want to be. That attitude affects mine - I don't care at all what such people want. I don't mind if their opinions are ignored and their assault rifles taken from them, nor if it terrifies them to have that done to them. I'd want that anyway, but my attitude would have included some interest in their fears and desires, and at least acknowledged that those feelings deserved consideration even if they needed to be overruled.
But not with people who only care about themselves. I find that I don't care about them at all any more, which is a bit of an enigma for a humanist who once would have agreed that all lives matter. Not any more. Not the lives of people who are so selfish that they don't have the least concern for who they frighten or harm. Those lives don't matter to me any more. I've seen too much of it in the last few years, especially from the vaccine and mask haters, and now again, the gun people. It is pathological to have so many antisocial people in the same population, so many people lacking empathy or a sense of community.
It is a sign of cultural failure, and an indication that one probably should find other kinds of people to live among. Consider Texas. I'm wondering why decent people still live there. Are they stuck by circumstances? Why would an empathetic person want to live where they consider women incubators, brown skinned people and those who vote Democratic the enemy, have a failing power grid that is still being neglected, is now in the suffocating heat wave phase of American life that engulfs the southwestern US (good luck with air conditioning when rolling brownouts and grid failures come), recurrent hurricanes and flooding in increasing intensity and frequency, and now, police cowardice and incompetence. I wish that the decent people would get out. I'm sure that there are many in the cities like Houston, Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio. Get out of there before you're its next victim.
Incidentally, Texas's pathetic governor (he's livid, you know), is deflecting to mental health of course, which he also doesn't care about. This is the pathology to which I refer. From Gov. Greg Abbott redirects $500 million from other agencies to fund border security mission through end of fiscal year
Then Abbott feigns interest in mental health. What Republican cares about that, or any other support for ordinary people? That's just deflection from guns, which become even more of a problem the more wound up America becomes. And this is the kind of person Texans want running their state, which is why I say that the best plan is to live elsewhere if possible.
I don't know what part of America I would want to live in myself if I were in Texas and of a mind to find a more compatible culture. Certainly nowhere Maga prevails - the South, the Midwest, and the Mountain states. Nowhere that gets extreme weather, which is the west (worsening drought, fire, and killer heat), the gulf (worsening hurricanes) and the eastern seaboard (worsening hurricanes and blizzards). You can be shot in the back by the police or the face by a kid with an assault rifle anywhere. What's left? Oregon? No, it's already burning. Alaska? Too conservative. Hawaii? OK. That would be acceptable, though pricey.
I'd probably do what I did thirteen years ago - move to the mountains of Mexico, where the people are people I can feel comfortable living among, and the weather and prices pretty darned good. Where what the Supreme Court does and how the elections go and American gun laws don't matter. Gun violence in Mexico is a problem for the cartels, those opposing them (judges, police, politicians, journalists) and the families of all of the above - a very unfortunate circumstance, but not a threat to expats not in the drug business. The cartels don't mess with expats because the government would rain down on them as the foreigners like us began finding other places to live and spend their money, which is why they're welcome here.
With the guns, I've yet to see a comment that indicates any idea that there is a gun problem that needs attention or that people are suffering. It just doesn't matter. It's all acceptable as long as nobody restricts their ability to be as armed as they feel they need or want to be. That attitude affects mine - I don't care at all what such people want. I don't mind if their opinions are ignored and their assault rifles taken from them, nor if it terrifies them to have that done to them. I'd want that anyway, but my attitude would have included some interest in their fears and desires, and at least acknowledged that those feelings deserved consideration even if they needed to be overruled.
But not with people who only care about themselves. I find that I don't care about them at all any more, which is a bit of an enigma for a humanist who once would have agreed that all lives matter. Not any more. Not the lives of people who are so selfish that they don't have the least concern for who they frighten or harm. Those lives don't matter to me any more. I've seen too much of it in the last few years, especially from the vaccine and mask haters, and now again, the gun people. It is pathological to have so many antisocial people in the same population, so many people lacking empathy or a sense of community.
It is a sign of cultural failure, and an indication that one probably should find other kinds of people to live among. Consider Texas. I'm wondering why decent people still live there. Are they stuck by circumstances? Why would an empathetic person want to live where they consider women incubators, brown skinned people and those who vote Democratic the enemy, have a failing power grid that is still being neglected, is now in the suffocating heat wave phase of American life that engulfs the southwestern US (good luck with air conditioning when rolling brownouts and grid failures come), recurrent hurricanes and flooding in increasing intensity and frequency, and now, police cowardice and incompetence. I wish that the decent people would get out. I'm sure that there are many in the cities like Houston, Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio. Get out of there before you're its next victim.
Incidentally, Texas's pathetic governor (he's livid, you know), is deflecting to mental health of course, which he also doesn't care about. This is the pathology to which I refer. From Gov. Greg Abbott redirects $500 million from other agencies to fund border security mission through end of fiscal year
"Gov. Greg Abbott said Friday he is moving another $500 million to fund Operation Lone Star, his border security initiative at the Texas-Mexico border. The move comes three weeks after state military officials said the multibillion-dollar operation was in need of an infusion of cash to keep it afloat through the end of the fiscal year.
"Abbott said the money would be taken from the budgets of other Texas agencies, including nearly $210 million from the state’s Health and Human Services Commission over two years and about $160 million from the Texas Department of Public Safety. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Department of State Health Services and Juvenile Justice Department will each see tens of millions of dollars taken from their budgets to fund the border mission, Abbott said.
"In a letter to the agencies, Abbott said that “this transfer will not affect any agency or program function.” The governor's office did not answer whether the agencies would be reimbursed later or would see budget cuts, and instead referred questions back to Abbott's original announcement.
"Operation Lone Star’s price tag for taxpayers is upwards of $2 billion a year. State officials already transferred another $480 million from other agencies in January to keep the operation running through the spring."
"Abbott said the money would be taken from the budgets of other Texas agencies, including nearly $210 million from the state’s Health and Human Services Commission over two years and about $160 million from the Texas Department of Public Safety. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Department of State Health Services and Juvenile Justice Department will each see tens of millions of dollars taken from their budgets to fund the border mission, Abbott said.
"In a letter to the agencies, Abbott said that “this transfer will not affect any agency or program function.” The governor's office did not answer whether the agencies would be reimbursed later or would see budget cuts, and instead referred questions back to Abbott's original announcement.
"Operation Lone Star’s price tag for taxpayers is upwards of $2 billion a year. State officials already transferred another $480 million from other agencies in January to keep the operation running through the spring."
Then Abbott feigns interest in mental health. What Republican cares about that, or any other support for ordinary people? That's just deflection from guns, which become even more of a problem the more wound up America becomes. And this is the kind of person Texans want running their state, which is why I say that the best plan is to live elsewhere if possible.
I don't know what part of America I would want to live in myself if I were in Texas and of a mind to find a more compatible culture. Certainly nowhere Maga prevails - the South, the Midwest, and the Mountain states. Nowhere that gets extreme weather, which is the west (worsening drought, fire, and killer heat), the gulf (worsening hurricanes) and the eastern seaboard (worsening hurricanes and blizzards). You can be shot in the back by the police or the face by a kid with an assault rifle anywhere. What's left? Oregon? No, it's already burning. Alaska? Too conservative. Hawaii? OK. That would be acceptable, though pricey.
I'd probably do what I did thirteen years ago - move to the mountains of Mexico, where the people are people I can feel comfortable living among, and the weather and prices pretty darned good. Where what the Supreme Court does and how the elections go and American gun laws don't matter. Gun violence in Mexico is a problem for the cartels, those opposing them (judges, police, politicians, journalists) and the families of all of the above - a very unfortunate circumstance, but not a threat to expats not in the drug business. The cartels don't mess with expats because the government would rain down on them as the foreigners like us began finding other places to live and spend their money, which is why they're welcome here.
Just ask Ted Cruz -- the United States doesn't have too many guns (more than it has people!) -- it has too many doors in schools.
I can hardly wait to see 1,200 students escaping a smoke-filled school through a single door.
How does this freaking idiot actually get elected?
I can hardly wait to see 1,200 students escaping a smoke-filled school through a single door.
How does this freaking idiot actually get elected?
Sand Dancer
Crazy Cat Lady
But why are we so angry? I think some folks don't like the fact that we are trying to become like the other first world nations and give equality, etc, and they have many guns in case the "revenuers" come to their homes, but I don't think that speaks for all angry people. I wish we could figure this out.
It's too soon for something in such bad taste.
Fortunately, I'm here to serve.
Tearful Uvalde Residents Thank Police For Protecting Parking Lot From Gunman
Fortunately, I'm here to serve.
Tearful Uvalde Residents Thank Police For Protecting Parking Lot From Gunman
Twilight Hue
Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
I can't picture a potential deranged killer being perturbed by a delay or obstacle..
Truth in love
Well-Known Member
Psychos kill. Nothing new about that. America has very high rates of childhood trauma. This promotes violence. Not the only factor but a big one.
SkepticThinker
Veteran Member
As I just pointed out to someone else, that's about 20 years out of date.
SkepticThinker
Veteran Member
If I kill a person, then I am a killer.
I've been in a lot of hairy situations, but I've never needed to kill anyone. Luckily, I don't live in the US.
SkepticThinker
Veteran Member
And many people just assume that is the case when it comes to people who need welfare assistance, which is an ever increasing amount of people these days.
Of course, that's just an attempt to demonize them so we can cut even more of their funding.
SkepticThinker
Veteran Member
You missed the point.
If there aren't tons of guns available everywhere then it's harder for a deranged (or not deranged) person to get their hands on one. Or perhaps, if there is a longer process involved in obtaining a legal gun, you could weed out some of the "deranged killers" looking to get their hands on a gun. You could also weed out some of the crime of passion time shootings as well, because somebody doesn't have a plethora of guns in their immediate surrounding environment when they fly off the handle.
SkepticThinker
Veteran Member
A whole generation of kids going through school shootings over and over again is only going to contribute more to that.
Twilight Hue
Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
SkepticThinker
Veteran Member
A person trained in using guns and in other tactical areas as well.
Wildswanderer
Veteran Member
When you have known people who could work but decide to leach off the system, it is not an assumption.And many people just assume that is the case when it comes to people who need welfare assistance, which is an ever increasing amount of people these days.
Of course, that's just an attempt to demonize them so we can cut even more of their funding.
Wildswanderer
Veteran Member
New York State already makes it difficult to purchase a gun, but they still have mass shootings.
Truth in love
Well-Known Member
Agreed maybe we should stop having “helpless victims inside” signs up all over. Maybe train and arm half a dozen teachers at each school.
School shooters are cowards. Knowing they will be facing a threat right away would save many of them away.