When Does it end? For now, it doesn't...

An incident that happened some time back when a high school basketball player sucker punched a player from the opposing team causing serious injury came to mind. The incident involved two women athletes and I see in the news that another very similar occurrence took place recently involving two male high school athletes. The incident was caught on video so, of course the whole world wanted to watch. People seem to have a fascination with watching raw violence. The other player in both cases was injured, seriously... Over what? It wasn't stated in the article but it had to be, obviously something like, we lost, a blocked shot, trash talk on the court, a perceived dirty foul, something really big and life-changing, you know. But to seriously injure someone... One was charged with a felony the other may be facing the same. Though I doubt that initially caused much in the way of remorse or reflection. This is but two examples, they are countless. 

So, what is going here? Cultural breakdown, an erosion in decency and decorum, kids that haven't learned respect for others, solving your issues through violence, a lack of maturity? All of that and a lot more. We have a lot of problems when it comes to civility. Serious problems. In order to have any sort of peaceful order in any civilization there must be consequences for wrongdoing. Otherwise, well no further explanation is really needed. That's not sustainable, and there certainly would never be peace. The bad actors would rule. 

Let's go back to your childhood. If you misbehaved, your parents would punish you. At least for the infractions they knew about. If you hit your sibling you were spanked, sent to your room, grounded from privileges... And such things were painful as a child. They meant something, they hurt. And they often worked, they were effective at changing your bad behavior. As an adult there also must be consequences for bad behavior. You know, to keep the order. Bad behavior tends to cause misery for others. This is exactly what our forefathers were thinking when they were setting up our democracy. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. There is no way to put it any simpler than that. No one has the right to screw with someone else's life, liberty or pursuit of happiness. If you do, there will be consequences. There must be...

As a child, the monumental authority of your parents beating your ass usually did the trick. Or putting you in time out, depending on the type of household you grew up in (rolling my eyes...). For adults locking your ass up in a jail cell and a hefty fine works for most people. But not everyone. Bad actors tend to be persistent bastards. Recidivism is rampant. In fact, when it comes to punishing adults we rarely get it right. Time and again you see cases where offenders of serious crimes, assault, battery, rape, felony theft, robbery, even murder are charged and incarcerated only to be back on the streets within days. Sometimes merely a matter of hours. And more often than not committing the same crimes again... 

It begs the question, who is responsible for this lunacy? Who is doing this? As a democracy, a civilization, a country we're not stupid. Well, let me rephrase, most of us aren't stupid. The one who carry the load of culpability are not the people. In fact, this isn't really complicated at all. The ones who make the laws (and change them...) and the ones presumably are tasked with doling out 'justice'. In short, politicians and judges. Eliminating or not even requiring bail, ridiculously low bonds for serious, violent crimes, releases for overcrowding, a broken immigration control system (but let's not go there...). There have been countless innocent lives lost because because a sworn-to-uphold the law judge released a violent criminal who fell back into their old habits and killed again. Or raped again, or assaulted again. 

So what's going on with these Neanderthals who identify as judges? Why do they do this? They believe they are interpreting the law and the problem is the law. It couldn't possibly be their own short-sighted ignorance. Of course not. But let's be honest, and blunt. Speaking directly to the group of idiot mongrels who identify as judges, it's on you. Yes you. Our laws and legal system however fallible it may be was intended to protect us and our lives, liberty and pursuit of happiness. And it's your job to make that happen. If laws can be twisted and "interpreted" to allow violent criminals back on the streets then they can certainly be twisted enough to keep them locked up. Feel feel to use a little common sense whenever the urge strikes you. While the populace is out keeping the economy moving, providing healthcare, producing goods and services, keeping the lights on in your home and gas in your car do something productive yourself. Lock up violent offenders and keep them locked up. We all have rights, of course we do. Even if you have been accused of a crime. Even if you have been convicted of a crime. But listen closely, victims of violent crime have rights too. And one of those rights is to not have the same criminal inflict the same violence on the public again. And yet again. Snowflake ideology has no place in our legal system. In fact it has proven to be lethal time and time again...

Police Problem?

 In recent years you can't help but to have noticed the occurrences of police interactions that have resulted in citizen deaths. These occurrences have resulted in a lot of exposure in the press. And obviously most of this exposure has not been positive for the police. So it would be rather easy and expected that a majority of the citizenry would come to the conclusion that we have a police problem. That the use of deadly force has gotten out of hand. And that many of these encounters are racially charged and motivated. There have been countless protests and demonstrations and destruction of property. Any behavior by the police that results in the death of someone, other than someone who poses and immediate deadly threat ( I guess we need to qualify that...) can at face value be deemed unacceptable. All of the premises that we expect, and take for granted such as due process, innocent until proven guilty, to serve and protect are removed from the equation. In these cases it appears that the police took the role of judge, jury and executioner. The cartels, the mafia and the banana republics may be accustomed to and accept such behavior but we're not and we don't. Even the wild west back in the day had judges. They weren't consulted on all matters. but, hey, we had them. 

So, just exactly how big is this problem? If it happens even once then it's a problem. If there is any loss of life then it's a problem. But is it a pandemic problem? According to numerous studies and accounts only .003% of all interactions between a resident and a cop result in the use of deadly force. Of the over ten million interactions with police officers every year only a thousand of them involve deadly shootings. Are all of those deadly shooting's unjustified? Hardly. First you'll have to identify and exclude all the cases where the officer was defending himself. The perp pulled a knife or gun or some other weapon and threatened the officer or someone else. Fully justified. Or anyone else for that matter to defend themselves or anyone else. But the documented statistics say it's not prevalent, rampant or pandemic as the press would have you believe. Not all police officers are good lawmen who routinely exercise good judgment. There are bad apples with badges and guns. And sometimes they kill people that shouldn't be killed. This is a serious crime and should be punished accordingly. When it's a police involved shooting, they should be punished the same as anyone else. No exceptions. There are plenty of bad apples among us all. They're in every group, organization, cabal, profession, community, religion, literally everywhere. The difference is when most of us make a bad decision no one else is affected and certainly no one is killed. But when a police officer makes a bad decision with a gun in his hand it never ends well. Police officers are in a very unique position when it comes to the use of deadly force. The benefit of the doubt immediately goes to the police. If a citizen used deadly force and it is not obvious they were acting in self defense, they are detained while the matter is investigated. And they certainly are not given the benefit of the doubt. Not to say that police officers should not be given the benefit of the doubt, in most cases they should be. But every instance should be investigated thoroughly and objectively. 

Invariably in every case whether the incident is white on black, white on white, black on white or black on black the issue of racism is injected. No matter the color combination race is rarely if ever the issue.  Just as in rape, sex is not the issue or the motive. Use of deadly force is a complicated occurrence that is not motivated by race. Much of modern policing is driven by crime data and community demand. In most cases there was a direct threat to the police officer's life with a deadly weapon. Deadly weapon attacks on police officers happen on average 27 times a day in just 2\3 of the nation's police departments. If you threaten a police officer with a deadly weapon your chances of surviving the encounter are not good. As well they shouldn't be. It's an issue of cultures clashing. It's an issue of selecting the right people to do the job of policing and properly training them. And properly supervising them. The police are an armed force. Why do you think the armed forces; Army, Navy, Marines... train and live by strict discipline and code of honor and chain of command? When you have a large group whose mission and task involves the need to be armed, how else could it be done?... Strict discipline, code of honor and chain of command, and lots of accountability. Police need to and should do the same. Police misbehavior should never reach a court of law. It shouldn't happen in the first place. With competent supervision and training there would be a lot less misconduct. And a lot less incidents of the use of deadly force. Throw in a little common sense on the part of everyone involved and you'll have a much more desirable outcome...

Time to take out the rest of the trash...

 You have Hunter Biden over here on the one hand who is consistently displaying antics and behavior very unbecoming of a presidents' son. Not to mention that he's also a grown-ass man. He fathered a daughter from a past romance, or in his case probably more of a mindless dalliance. He has from the beginning refused to accept any responsibility for her and has fought vigorously to keep her from being able to legally claim the Biden name. Only through DNA testing was he forced to admit that it was his child. He desperately doesn't want her to be able to claim the Biden family name. There would obviously be many advantages for this child to bear the name of a President. Even a bad one... Joe and Jill on the other hand, have never even met this child. Ever. The have never so much as acknowledged her existence. There were stockings for all the Biden's children and grandchildren on the mantle at the White House except hers. Even the dog and cat had stockings, but not her.  This isn't something you'll easily find in the media, simply because it isn't there. They don't like to talk about such things. This is the President of the United States granddaughter. I'm trying to see some compassion, some integrity, some solid morals here... I don't see any. Not even a trace.

Then of course, there's the infamous laptop debacle. Hunt' drops his laptop off for a repair, never comes back to claim it. The shop owner takes a look at the hard drive and finds things that causes his eyes to pop out of their sockets. He however, does have some integrity and decides to call the authorities. He turned the laptop over to the FBI. He also kept a copy of the contents of the hard drive, which somehow found their way to Rudy Giuliani, which then found their way to the pages of the NY Times. The FBI then begins to publicly discredit the NY Times publication with the good old standby, the Russian interference crap. I personally think they have about worn that excuse out but that seems to be their story and they're sticking with it... But, now here's the kicker, the vehicle, the medium for their discrediting efforts came through a clandestine and obscure relationship they 'cultivated' with Twitter executives. And, of course the Twitter execs willingly cooperated by closing and censoring accounts, etc. Violation of first amendment rights to free speech? Probably. And the fact that Twitter was paid several million dollars for staffers time by the FBI didn't hurt either. 

Along comes Elon Musk who buys Twitter and finds this morass in his newly purchased company. Before you know it, the Twitter Files are made public. It was really just a matter of Elon showing up at Twitter and taking out the trash. Now the truth is out there for all to see. 

So where's the outrage? Where's the collective sense of  "what in the sam hell is going on?" The news of Hunter Biden's business dealings are nothing new. The most casual of observers know that Hunter is and has been involved in myriad crooked shenanigans to garner as much money as he can get his paws on. It's also beginning to look as though Pop is in on it to some extent. And a large proportion of all this hanky-panky involves Chinese officials at various levels of power. Most of the facts are out in the public domain, so why isn't there a prolific outrage? There are a few reasons. One, the FBI with all their considerable resources are still at work to deny, discredit and just outright cover up as much as possible, and succeeding on most fronts. Oh, and by the way, those considerable resources, guess who's paying for those?... Yep, you. The taxpayer. And who does the director of the FBI report to? The Attorney General who in turn reports to the President. Hunter's daddy. Another reason for the subdued outrage? Twitter, who verifiably has been colluding with the FBI and getting paid for it, has been silencing the negative talk about Bidens. All of the Bidens. Deleting accounts. Including Trumps... Censoring posts. And if you have read any of the Twitter files, there is proof of all this happening, the Twitter Files. Trying and succeeding in confusing as many people as possible. And believe me, there are a lot of voters out there that it takes very little to confuse them. Then along comes Elon and rains on their happy ass little parade. 

But, there's always a big butt that  shows up when dirty business is going on. As long as the Democrats had control of the House there was no reason to investigate Hunter's business dealings (according to them...) or anything else related to the Bidens or the FBI. But, the dems aren't in control anymore. The investigative wheels have already started turning looking into Hunter's shady business dealings. The DOJ has assigned a special counsel to investigate the classified docs found in Pop Biden's office and garage. Interesting... The FBI can bully the old Twitter (not the new one...) but the special counsel is hands off. He's a Trump appointee which means he's not a dem. Director Wray, have a seat. 

So, back to the original question, who or what is the biggest problem? The Bidens, nah. They'll be investigated, might face some charges, probably get their filthy little hands slapped and in a couple of years they'll be history. The FBI is a huge problem. But that all comes back to leadership. Who in the hell was in charge letting those little shits get away with that crap? Barry Obama and Joe Biden. With a little luck and if the creek doesn't rise, maybe the rest of the trash will get taken out...

Is it a Pack Mentality...

 Reading the news, I used to enjoy getting a newspaper and keeping up with what's going on in the world. It was once relaxing and there was enjoyment in it. But that was then. Such is no longer the case. It's no secret why, there's just too much bad stuff going on. Way too much. Locally, major cities have become decadent. I live near one and from personal observation I can tell you it's bad. Crime has skyrocketed. Everything from murder, rape, burglary, arson, human trafficking, theft (including everything from bicycles to airplanes) is off the charts. Places, neighborhoods that were long thought to be safe aren't anymore. Living in the suburbs used to be the solution. Not anymore. And just why, exactly is this happening?... Perhaps we should carry that question a little further, why does this keep happening and getting worse?..

Have our values changed? Our morals? Even our sense of right and wrong? Of course they have. All of that. But the problem lying at the root of all this, at the very core is way too many of us are simply accepting it, going along with it. I don't meant to sound like I'm throwing everyone under the bus, I'm not. There are plenty of solid people out there who are standing up, who are calling out those who are creating and promoting this pandemic of decay. There are still even sources in the mainstream media and press that are calling it like it is. Though you do have to seek them out. They aren't the ones on TV in your face very night. First off, it's a problem of leadership. If any one group deserves the bulk of the blame it's them. The leaders. Let me name some of them; corporate leaders, mayors, city council members, district attorneys, chiefs of police, governors, congress men and women, supreme court justices, presidential cabinet members, and of course the chief himself and his useless sidekick. We look to our leaders to do the work of building and maintaining the structure that society needs to function in a productive and civil way. With few exceptions, we elected them to their positions. We should expect this of them, it's their job and responsibility. We should hold them accountable. And when they fail, we should get rid of them. 

But that's not often the case. It happens, all too often, that there is a miserable, horrible fail and not only are they not dispensed, they are re-elected. And re-elected again. All of the fallout from their failures are overlooked, denied, even defended. Let me offer a stellar example, Lori Lightfoot, the mayor of Chicago. She was elected in 2019 and hailed and heralded as the first black, female lesbian mayor in Chicago's history. Since she was elected crime has spiked over 40%. Last year, homicides rose to their highest levels in 25 years. She operates under the thumb of the cartels. Chicago has long been known, very long, as a Democratic bastion. So why don't the dems get rid of her? Elect someone else? Because she's protected by her diversity shield. Not all democrats agree with this. They're not all stupid. But they all accept it. They go along with it. Maybe they're telling themselves 'damn, this is bad but it's not really that bad.' Will she be re-elected? Probably. Is she the worst mayor in the country? Probably. 

Political party ideology is a pretty complex subject. But it does have some very obvious, consistent symptoms. One of them that the dems seem to struggle with is they'll grab hold of something that makes absolutely no sense and benefits but a few (or maybe even no one...) and they'll run with it. And keep running with it. And they'll all get behind the dog with the bone and cheer them on. Seemingly, forever. Dogs have a pack mentality, they follow the one with the bone. Relentlessly. Are democrats dogs? I don't know, look into what's going on in Chicago then you tell me... I really feel bad about disparaging dogs, though.