Open Thread - Thurs 17 Nov 2022 - And the Second Greatest Evil is Indifference
And the Second Greatest Evil is Indifference
You might know that Chris Hedges has a new book out - The Greatest Evil is War.
Hedges has written several books about war, his (and others') war reporting, war's supposed purpose in society and so on. I'm trying to get myself brave enough to completely read this new book... I've read some excerpts and they make me so sad, and angry, and frustrated, that I let myself get distracted very easily from the book. Here's one example, Chapter X - Wounds that Never Heal. Hedges posted it to his Substack on the 29th of September, the link to that substack article is above.
Image is by Mr. Fish
The chapter is about a wounded and consequently paralyzed (in 2004 in Iraq) war veteran named Tomas Young and how his life ended. It's very sad but definitely needs to be read. What was said in that Chapter about our society and especially about our political and social institutions, like the VA, made me very angry. It shows so many of the ways our society doesn't give a crap about the vet, the ways we disrespect him, and the ways we hurt him further. Holding a flag and waving it at a parade doesn't do it for respect, I'm afraid. What does is treating him like a much valued, grown up, human being, providing him with all the care and services he needs, respecting his humanity, even if he's in a wheel chair!
The final straw for me, in reading this excerpt, was when the VA won't give him more pain meds. HE'S DYING and they won't give him more pain meds. Who the hell cares if he gets addicted? HE'S DYING.
Here's a paragraph about the pain meds:
Over the last eight months of Tomas’s life, Veterans Affairs reduced his pain medication, charging he had become an addict. It was a decision that thrust him into a wilderness of agony. Tomas’s existence became a constant battle with the VA. He suffered excruciating “breakthrough pain.” The VA was indifferent. It cut his thirty-day supply of pain medication to seven days. Tomas, when the pills did not arrive on time, might as well have been nailed to a cross. Claudia (Tomas' wife), in an exchange of several emails with me (Hedges) since Tomas’s death, remembered hearing her husband on the phone one day pleading with a VA doctor and finally saying: “So you mean to tell me it is better for me to live in pain, than die on pain medicine, in this disabled state?” At night, she said, he would moan and cry out.
When I finished reading this, I was swearing so loud I woke up my husband at 2:30 AM. I mean, what the actual f**? He's dying because of some stupid crappy horrific war Bush started - Bush, the current liberal hero, former President Bush - Tomas is in pain, he's suffering, his stomach has exploded, he can't eat, he's on a feeding tube and they won't give him pain meds? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH US????
A Little Bit More:
“Maybe he got so exhausted by the enduring of it all that he took a last sleep and never came back,” Claudia (Tomas' wife) wrote (to Hedges). “My conclusion is that he died in pain from the exhaustion of having to endure it. Early morning Monday, when I thought he was sleeping, I heard a silence I had never heard before. I couldn’t hear him breathing. I was scared, but I knew. The first thing I did was liberate him from all the tubes and bags on his body. I cut off the feeding tube. I took off the Ostomy Bags. I removed the Foley Catheter. I cleaned his body. I played music. We smoked a last joint together. I smoked for him. I started making calls.”
“The funeral home instructed me to call the police,” she wrote. “They arrived and concluded that there were no issues, but because of his young age they had to refer this to the Medical Examiner. The Medical Examiner came. He made the determination that due to his age that they would have to perform an autopsy. I said, ‘Hey look at his body, don’t you think he has been mutilated enough? Are you going to desecrate his body even further?’ So, he was cut open some more.”
The VA called her to ask for the autopsy report."
The indifference to the reality of his disability, the indignities after he died, the stuff his body went through, all of it, was just icing on the sadness, the anger, and the shame, cake for me. It made me realize, again, we, I, have got to do better. And so, I'll be trying to do so.
Chapter X of the book finishes with a letter Tomas Young wrote to Bush and Cheney. The whole letter is worth reading slowly and carefully, to digest what the man says. I'm copying the last two paragraphs here because they speak about the VA and our politicians, but do read the whole letter, if you can, it discusses much more.
I have, like many other disabled veterans, suffered from the inadequate and often inept care provided by the Veterans Administration. I have, like many other disabled veterans, come to realize that our mental and physical wounds are of no interest to you, perhaps of no interest to any politician. We were used. We were betrayed. And we have been abandoned. You, Mr. Bush, make much pretense of being a Christian. But isn’t lying a sin? Isn’t murder a sin? Aren’t theft and selfish ambition sins? I am not a Christian. But I believe in the Christian ideal. I believe that what you do to the least of your brothers you finally do to yourself, to your own soul.
My day of reckoning is upon me. Yours will come. I hope you will be put on trial. But mostly I hope, for your sakes, that you find the moral courage to face what you have done to me and to many, many others who deserved to live. I hope that before your time on earth ends, as mine is now ending, you will find the strength of character to stand before the American public and the world, and in particular the Iraqi people, and beg for forgiveness.
So, thanks for reading this depressing post and here's the open thread - and remember, everything is interesting if you dive deep enough, so tell us about where you're diving!
Comments
Happy Thursday!
Sorry this post is a bit depressing, but denying pain medications to people who are dying because they might get addicted has been on my mind and angering me lately, for some reason.
In other, fun, news, it's still sunny here, after a few days of rain we are back into the abnormal sunshine, no rain, thing. It's nice because it's seasonally cool, so the weather is crisp and feels good.
My little town is the site of a new subdevelopment, consisting of a lot of 3 story townhouses/condos. The price for one is like... 1/2 a million dollars. I about fainted to learn that. And you get to be 10 feet from the busy road in front (and across from one of those areas where car repair shops, and other manufacturing/repair businesses are), and 6 inches from your neighbor and you get no yard, no garage, no park for kids... the development probably won't finish, because of the economy. But, maybe it will, because of Seattleites needing a place to live that isn't 'too' expensive, even if they do have to travel pretty far to get here.
What's up with you all today?
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
23degF and snowing
here south of Denver, with
4"(on edit: now 5"-10") in the forecast. We're at the high temp for the day, low tonight will be 9degF. Winter is no longer an abstract concept, around these parts, and the homeless death toll will be rising.Douglas County, CO is a hotbed for development right now: there literally are hundreds of projects representing thousands of new high-density apartments and condo complexes all over the place. I'm at a loss as to how they think this is going to work out in the face of the major upcoming recession: who's going to have the money to buy them, or to pay the astronomical rents they will seek? Further, if the developer fantasies all work out somehow, where's the *water* going to come from? We're already in a decades-long drought, for crying out loud...
What is probably going to happen is that a number of those developments will be abandoned in some semi-finished state, and will be taken over by squatters, right up until someone's cookstove/campfire gets out of control. Those stick-built multistory stacks are flammable as hell if the sprinklers aren't active, and once again the homeless death toll will be rising.
America: the land of wishful thinking. Planners, we clearly aren't. The money people will take their profits, and devil take the hindmost...
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Utah has been building those monstrosities for about 5 years
and they build them any place that has just enough land to build them. Like you said often where there is no place close by for kids to play. Last year one was being built on the other side of the tracks but someone decided to burn it down. Now it’s just a pile of ashes.
A huge one that was 5 stories was being built just east of SLC in a condensed shopping area with other big apartment buildings just next door. Built mostly from wood it went up in a blaze of glory that burned all night and many people living in the adjacent apartments got tons of water damage and many businesses close by are still closed down from some type of damage. Apparently our real estate legislators decided that wood is okay to be the main structure for them. Did I say that it burned all night and into the next day? Just down the street there’s one with 30 plus units built back to back where maybe 4 or 6 homes used to be. I haven’t looked into how much they cost. But they are EVERYWHERE. And more are being built…. And they are butt ugly.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
Butt ugly is a great description of them...
I really dislike them. And I thought suburbs were bad. I dunno, why can't we built quaint housing, like the British did/do? Or the Europeans? Have cities and housing complexes all different colors, bright and pretty. Yea, I like many European towns :).
I'm sorry they are being built all over Utah (and much of the USA it seems). I guess it's the rulers' answer to needing more 'affordable' housing. If only it wasn't so shoddily done!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
The development being abandoned?
It's happened here before. It didn't burn down, that development, but it was more of a suburb kinda thing. Eventually it got resold, finished and inhabited, about 15 or more years ago. This new thing though? I could see it getting burned down, the construction seems really shoddy. But what do I know?
Maybe it should be law, if the developers' development doesn't sell in x amount of months/years, then they get to donate it to the poor. The gov will pay the developer, at cost, but the developer doesn't make any profit... Wishful thinking, I know.
Snow? We haven't had any here, but I'm at only 80 feet above sea level! My parents place, over on the Olympic Peninsula, got an inch or two of snow recently. And there's been feet in the passes. So I guess winter is coming here too, just as it did at yours!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
They tried to do it to my Mom
when she was dying of dementia -- turned out the insurers didn't want to tell anyone that, to qualify for the medication, in the amounts she wanted, she'd have to be taken to the psychiatrist 25 miles away so she could be diagnosed as qualifying for hospice care.
It is, as usual, about money. This is why Medicare for All -- because insurers are cheap.
“The loyal Left cannot act decisively. Their devotion to the system is a built-in kill switch limiting dissent.” - Richard Moser
I'm sorry about the troubles your mother had...
It makes me so angry. Aren't we supposed to be compassionate? Understanding? Forgiving? And yet, once money, or a weird kinda morality (Christian?), comes into it, we are none of those things. My father is dying of/with dementia as well. He's got a very good doctor, who goes against the system a lot. In fact Dad's doctor won't take health insurance at all. Dad's lucky he can afford that care. Still, there will come a time, probably soon, when hospice will be involved. We can't find anyone to help us right now, maybe never, because my parents live in rural isolation. Bleh. As for health insurers? They can go well, to put it bluntly, sit and spin. I'm so sick of dealing with them. So sick.
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
My son was in that 2003 to 2004 Iraq war and
for the grace of God he survived it without being physically wounded and so without becomeing a pysically paralyzed Veteran.
But mentally wounded he was, like all of Veterans were, some didn't realize their wounds back then, but I believe most of them do nowadays.
My little editing of the quotation, you presented, my son could have written any time:
He (Mr. Bush) will never beg for forgiveness and if he should do, I won't forgive him. It would be too easy of a cop-out.
Oh shit. I will read Hedges new book. Thanks for pointing to it. Too sad to say more. Thank You for writing this out.
https://www.euronews.com/live
Your editing is perfect...
I'm sorry for the mental wounds all vets suffer, that your son suffers. As Hedge's says, War is the Greatest Evil. It's because no one, well, except maybe those in charge, gets out of a war without mental, physical, spiritual wounds. No one. Not a soldier, not a civilian in the war zone, not animals, nothing... It took me a while to realize that. When I was young, like your son was once, I wanted to serve my country. I was ready to sign up, but they wouldn't let women do the stuff I wanted to do (submarine work) when I was young. So I didn't sign up.
I wouldn't forgive Bush either, but I wouldn't mind him begging...
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
War and the VA
I am one of those men who has gotten caught up in one of their wars. I served in the 1/501 Infantry of the 101st Abn Div in 1969.The words he speaks are not just words to me but they have been my life long experience ever since.I'm in full tear mode now just thinking about how many times I've listened to other Vets tell that story or one very similar.RIP my brothers.
RIP to your brothers...
I'm in tears thinking about this, about you and your service. My uncle served in 'Nam about the same time you did. He did two tours of duty. He came back wounded physically and destroyed mentally. The emotional and mental cages he had to build around himself, and still maintains, to keep himself 'sane' are insurmountable for most others to get through.
Long ago, when he came back from 'Nam after his second tour, he visited us. I was a little kid, about 12 or so. I'd been hurt myself, in a horse riding accident. He bought me a teddy bear, and gave it to me while I was in the hospital. We both cried while he held my hands tightly, but, I didn't understand why he was crying. That teddy bear has never left my side, it sits near my bed even now, and I'm 60. Anyway, enough of that. Virtual hugs to you, I really respect that you have survived, no matter how wounded.
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Disabled Veterans
As the widow of a disabled veteran, I don't need to read this book. I lived it, though nowhere as bad as that veteran and his wife.
If all of those gung-ho kids who wanted to kick ass in Iraq and Afghanistan had talked to Viet Nam Veterans before joining, no one would have went.
not all were gung-ho kids who wanted to kick ass
in Iraq or Afghanistan. Some were pushed to enlist by their own failing parents, who never have seen a war up close, nor were involved in one.
Some 'kids' have just wery dumb and ignorant parents. The father of my son thought that my son just didn't know what to do with his life (no wonder, imho, after what he (my son) had gone through in his toddler to puberty life) and said if he can't be successful in school, he should go into the US military. (My son would say to this: "Thanks Dad, with a father like mine and a mother, who didn't know how to escape all the racist bullshit she was showered with by her own parents), that sounds like a 'good idea'.
That happened to be, when "Bush the Honoable one" decided that Saddam Hussein had to be eliminated by a 'shock and awe' bombardment in Bagdad, to punish Osama bin Laden, who was somewhere hopping around in Afgahnistan. Makes sense, huh?
It happens that my son was among those, who flew into Bagdad and saw the 'shock and awe' bombardments on Saddams compound from his own airplain, while he was flown into Osan Air Force base in Kuweit in supporting the US troops on their mission to make war in Iraq.
So, I think it would be good to not let the emotions drive you to believe in the gung-ho stuff. Once being in Iraq on the ground, I guess the gung-ho-ishmess went very quickly into 'in which mess and why I ended up here ?' thingy.
To say it with Chris Hedges, War is the greatest evil for those who are used or forced to fight in them, for the interest of those, who order them, but never ever have seen an Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) blow off 60 yards in front of them.
Eh, the comment brings up too many things I like to forget. I shut my mouth now and nothing for unngood (literally translation of the German expression 'Nichts für Ungut'. meaning 'no offense'.
https://www.euronews.com/live
I would like to apologize for my last comment,
because I feel I have not fully understood your life experience being a widow of a paraöyzed vet. This all should have been said in a pm. Please forgive.
https://www.euronews.com/live
@mimi No apologies
No apologies necessary. My husband wasn't paralyzed just all crippled up from his time in the service and fighting the V.A. for benefits until the day he died. He always said that the reason it took so long to get anything was they were betting that the vets would die before they were approved.
I remember hanging out with a friend and her son and his buddies stopped by. They had all been in High School R.O.T.C. This was around 2003 and they were just bragging about how they were going to go to Iraq and kick ass. I looked at one kid and told him that as soon as the bullets and bombs started flying he would piss his pants.
I think your comment is important...
You make good points. It's never as easy to avoid falling prey to the push to join the military as just listening to the older vets. I wish it were that easy, but it's not. Social, emotional, monetary, schooling pressures all can negate the stories of the vets. Heck, we in the USA are under constant advertizing and thought manipulation by the military industrial complex. Always. It's hard to understand, and impossible to escape, as a young person. I know, I fell under it's control myself for a time when I was a young adult, and I had a wounded uncle, a 'Nam vet, to tell me different!
All my best to you and your son. Life can be hard, but it is life. I hope it's better for him now.
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
You lived through it...
I'm so sorry and ashamed that you had to do that. So sorry..
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
I don't want to compare
...my VA experiences with those described above because by chance, at critical times during my VA care, I found providers there who did care. When I couldn't access the care I needed I was in big trouble. For a few years I was under the care of one doctor who really cared about her patients. Unfortunately, she passed away. When she was gone, it seemed like I was on my own. I found the same indifference or worse in the private sector healthcare. I had subsequent contacts with the VA where I had mentioned what a good doctor this person was, and found to my dismay, that her colleagues didn't share my opinion of her and were pretty much indifferent to my situation.
On the other hand, I found better care again at the VA after a hiatus of a dozen years or more. How lucky for me. I've been getting good care from several VA providers in different fields. How long will it last, I often wonder? So my impression of the VA goes from clinical and bureaucratic indifference to excellent care. My heart goes out to those combat veterans who meet with the obstacles to care described above. I know it happens often. I personally have read records of quite a few combat veterans going as far back as the Korean and Vietnam Wars, and it was unbelievably tragic the way many of them, the most deserving were treated.
語必忠信 行必正直
I've some friends...
who have had good treatment at the VA. I think it depends on the location, the doctor(s) and so on, like it does with a lot of health care here in the USA. I hope your good care will continue! And that good care can spread to others too, so that bad care is only a rare thing.
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Veterans are treated shamelessly...
If only we didn't create and escalate wars around the world and allowed soldiers to be helpful here at home and abroad. We are ruled by the worst people..selfish, greedy, arrogant, and foolish.
We have to take care of ourselves and our friends and neighbors cause the gov't sure as hell isn't going to be helpful, no just the opposite.
We just have to focus on what we can do like practice kindness... even to those with whom we disagree.
Take care and be of good heart!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Take care of ourselves and others,
and practice kindness. I completely agree! Thanks for the sage advice about dealing with all this stupidity and meanness.
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
I had a disgusting argument with a friend recently
He said Trump was the worst president in history. I said three things - Bush, Reagan, and Nixon. Honestly you can also add Wilson, maybe Jackson and Buchanan and Coolidge. I didn't have the heart to add Obama and Biden, but the whole truth hasn't come out yet (won't for many years if we live somehow) Of course he was born during the Reagan administration and knew Trump was worse because... well just because. Give him credit, he didn't say "Russia", but he would have if I'd pressed him. Oh well. I was still 11 when Nixon was inaugurated for the first time and 23 when Reagan taught me everything I needed to know about evil. He had a support system in place to protect him from Bush.
On to Biden since 1973
Nixon and Reagan, ohh gads...
They all were awful, Bush too. One of the reasons I moved to England when I was young was Reagan. Thatcher sucked too though, bleh.
I'm sorry about your argument with your friend. I have those kinds of arguments with some of my family, or had. They can't understand, but then, they watch the news and TV all the time. I don't have a TV...
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
I will get that book.
My Dad's experience with the VA was extraordinarily good. But then, they featured him in videos along with other "Miraculous Recovery" vets, shown in the National Archives, which was a sort of brag about great the VA is. No doubt about it, the WWII vets were first in line.
My contemporaries who fought in Nam were treated like animals, and now that they all suffer from Agent Orange, they are sort of written off.
Since I practice family law and criminal law, I am in constant contact with vets from Iraq and Afghanistan. Drugs, violence, alcoholism, addiction to pain meds, all make working with these vets dangerous. I have a new policy in place: I will not take their cases anymore. I have decided sitting around in my office, pistol nearby, avoiding windows, is not the way I wish to conduct business.
Just because I can turn them away doesn't mean that the VA can. Damn them for their neglect, and downright abuse of these veterans.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
It's very hard to work with people...
Veterans included, who are badly self-abusing or other-abusing. I don't blame you for refusing their cases. But the VA can't, and shouldn't, as you said. I have a very good friend who is a therapist. She worked, for a time, with an alcoholic treatment plan in Arizona. Lots of vets were amongst her 'clients'. But they were... lost, forgotten, dying and might as well have been dead. They were so abusive, self mostly, that all their friends and family had long abandoned them. They were dying. She fought, and actually won (for a time) the right to let the men drink what they wanted, and what they needed, under supervision so they couldn't harm themselves or others. It didn't matter if they died while drunk, after all, there were none left, but her, to care for them.
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
On a lighter note...
I did a brief search for cabin and condo rentals, and I found the perfect home. Only $23,633.00 per night, on average. I am so tempted! Not! If they rented it by the hour, I could spend maybe 2 hours. Wouldn't that be awesome? Just the pleasure of sitting on a gold commode would be worth it, doncha know?
Back to downer, it will freeze tonight. Homeless people in nearby cities will take it on the chin. Many of them are vets, of course.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Calls to mind a little ditty by J Garcia & R Hunter:
--West LA Fadeaway
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
LOL!
This was in Austin. A night in a Wyndham Motel can cost $3,000.00.
I was thinking about spending a few days over the Xmas holidays, carousing 6th St. Upon reading various reviews, Austin has become too dangerous to visit.
So, I checked out New Orleans, finding many nice accommodations for reasonable prices. Except, there is nowhere safe in that city.
What got me going on the crime rate issue was Amarillo. I was planning a couple of nights there, but Dear One researched, and it is one of the most dangerous cities in Texas.
Same way with staying near Big Bend. The Park Rangers will tell you to avoid certain areas and activities, due to the park being inundated with illegals. Certain roads have been closed.
We may be spending Xmas at home!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Sometimes I think cities or areas thereof being "dangerous"
is being overemphasized just to keep the populace scared. I've lived in "dangerous" parts of town and dangerous towns, used dangerous public conveyances, and recently at that, shopped in dangerous areas, etc. Walked all over New Orleans as recently as 2019, no hassles or signs of trouble for others. Of course, all it takes is one personal fatal incident, but often "danger" comes in the form of "there have been two incidents of gang related violence and 5 robberies in the last calendar quarter" in some town with 350,000 inhabitants and a vibrant after hours scene which works out to a negligible incidence.
still, we too tend to avoid places flagged as dangerous, so ...
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
I will go along with park Rangers.
Police stats in Amarillo show 1 victim for every 22 people. Last year at Christmas, one motel customer was complaining to management that a car load of people were photographing her truck, which was loaded with heavy equipment. The car was seen driving slowly through the parking lot. The manager did not call the cops, so the woman slept in the truck with her pistol in easy reach. Just 1 block from the motel was a high end neighborhood.
Client walked in. More Later.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
I think crime these days is worse
because it has become much more crimes against property. Oh, there's some violence but around here the big problem is that cars are very tempting targets. Eg, one of the reddit threads described a situation where a number of cars were broken into and/or had their catalytic converter stolen from the carport outside their apartment. Some of the medical people who worked later shifts had noted that their cars were broken into while they were working.
Sign of the times. Way too many people in desparate straits.
Another sign of the times is the police focus. Lots of funding for toys and equipment and dam little for actual police presence. Of course this is exacerbated by the background experience and training of the police mgmt. Eg, someone who goes thru the system looking for bad guys with guns and body armor will tend to overlook a couple of 20y olds looking to score some stuff that can be fenced at a party.
Agreed in that crime nowadays is different than before
My cousin had her car stolen in Montreal.
To run into the store for some cat food. Broad daylight.
The insurance racketeers will give her enough
to replace it with some used wheels. And pay for a rental.
As you say, street people are getting desperate.
What is an armored cop to do? Force lawful compliance
with the poor who have few options. Canada is provoking a
dangerous experiment in social control with their population.
question everything
I agree...
I think the fear is used to keep us quiet. I've lived in very dangerous, supposedly (and they were, I guess) places, like the slums and ghetto in Philly. Never had any trouble, which doesn't mean there wasn't trouble, just that I never had any. I'm not sure why, maybe I never looked like I had money. Maybe it's harder to rob someone of a backpack than a purse? I dunno.
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
23k?
I'm about passing out in shock. 23k??? Gads.
It's freezing here tonight. I may start volunteering for night duty at the foul weather shelter here in my little town. I'm a night person anyway, and the shelter needs to be open so the homeless can be warm and sleep.
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Good morning Sima, et. y'all. No mucho going on around here
except continuing get-ready and trying hard to use all of our apples in a real short time. Not possible, but worth a try.
My shallots and garlic are all up so it is just a matter of keeping them healthy through harvest. We're out of here for a couple of weeks starting next tues, so we can guarantee that the lettuce won't make it without some care during that period. The real hassle is planning the next couple of absences while getting ready for this one, a lot of "wait! which trip is that?" First world problems, for sure.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Lettuce might make it...
you never know! I've got a swiss chard plant that's about 3 ft tall and almost a year old, growing as a 'weed' in a lettuce bed. Heh, never know!
Do you have a freezer? you can cut up and freeze the apples, then make whatever (pies, sauce, more) with the frozen slices. We do that every bumper harvest year (every other year or so).
Have a good time on vacation from next Tues on!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
We've already canned a ton of applesauce and
filled our small freezer about 1/3 full of frozen apples. When we return from our 2 week jaunt it will be back to fresh apple dishes again. Mean while, we have 3 days, have enough apple cake for desserts, so maybe pork chops with apple slices or pork loin stuffed with chopped apples.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Ding Dong the Witch is dead!
Will Markos now send her 'black roses' ? /nt
https://www.euronews.com/live
Lol!Good one,
Mimi!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
just send her dead flowers
it's cheaper that way
question everything
Lol!
Another good one!
I take it few here will miss her. snort.
With her heading out the door, maybe that guy who allegedly beat up her husband has a chance at a fair trial.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Don't celebrate too soon
She hasn't yet said she is not running for re-election to Congress - just not for Minority Leader, which doesn't provide the grift and prestige that Speaker of the House does.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
@TheOtherMaven Pelosi has
Pelosi has already been re-elected in this recent election, so we're stuck with her for another 2 years (I vote against her each time, or abstain on that election if there are no good choices (as is usual). The only bright side to her not being in a "leadership" position is that she'll have a smaller stage to grandstand on.
That's what I figured.
What will the Squad do without their fearless leader?!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Wish it meant she was retiring...
from Congress as well!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so