It's that continuing curse of having one mental foot in two communities. I read the news from Milwaukee and New Orleans, and it's apparent both communities have similar problems.
Carjackings are more popular for New Orleans criminals than Milwaukee unless that activity is no longer newsworthy in Beertown. Armed robbery is common news in both communities.
I must say, when it comes to sheer guts, imagine three armed masked men invading Bachus at the height of the dinner hour and robbing customers of their valuables. We had a comparable incident in New Orleans last month. Then if you're a Milwaukeean, to get the magnitude of this event, you have to imagine the thieves went down the street a few nights later and hit The Pfister and a couple of other Tony locations.
Then there are the shootings. The bad guys are firing at people because of a bad drug deal, gang activity, someone pissed them off, somebody's relative pissed them off, or just pissed off in general. Oh, there is the occasional shooting because someone refuses to give them the keys to their car during a "jacking." Then, the Tulane medical student interrupted an abduction and attempted rape only to be shot in the stomach. The only reason he didn't get killed was that as the shooter aimed his gun at the gut shoot victim's head, the gun jammed. I guess that should show you, you have to be careful who you buy your firearms from and make sure you get a warranty.
Yes, there are many drug-addicted, brain-addled, desperate people out there, but I posit there is something else going on here. There a lot of people who are in desperate situations. Hopelessness and frustration are causing a strain on our communities and institutions. The friction between the police and the public they are supposed to serve is the daily fare of national news.
The outlandish political campaign is waged right now, as the candidates are forced to lower themselves into the sewer of the modern political thinking of their party and pander to a small but vocal minority to become the presidential candidate nominee of their party.
Recognizing that if they capitulate to this minority, they can't be elected in the general election, we hear a lot of, "I recognize the genuine frustration of the electorate with the government, but..." (fill in each candidate's uneasy and vague dismissal of Donald Trump, leader of the band of malcontents). This is the party of Ronald Reagan, who told us that the "Government was the problem." Did you ever wonder why anyone would think that the government had any solution to our common problems after forty years of "We don't need no stinking government?"
If you are a member of the shrinking middle class stuck with wages of the 1980 and the cost of living of 2015, If you see your kid doing the right things, going to college and trying to find a job, only to have to move back home and because of his college loans can't afford a car much less their own apartment or house, you're probably wondering what happened to "dawn in America." And here you are, thinking of putting something away for your retirement. What were you thinking?
If you're a minority without the opportunity to get further education, can't find a job that will allow you to start and raise a family and find that only equal opportunity employer is selling illegal drugs. What would you do? Maybe drugs aren't your thing; some people will pay plenty for stolen cars so they can be chopped and the parts sold on the illegal market. Then there are those down days when you just need a few bucks to get by. It's easy if you have a gun.
We have to realize a few things in the proceeding scenarios. White, black, yellow, or brown, we can all fall into the hopelessness of 98%. We have sold our representative government to the highest bidder. In return, we can become fabulously rich if we win the lottery, become professional athletes, turn ourselves into reality TV stars, movie, and TV Actor or are the CEO of a Corporation. Realistically, somewhere along the timeline, many of us have to admit our time for all of that is past.
I've said for many years, sooner or later, the so called middle class is going to wake up and realize that school prayer, abortion, concealed carry, and trying to figure out what American Exceptionalism means is the political magician's distraction, so he can pull off his magic.
The magic is a systematic dismantling of our infrastructure, defunding the social safety net, and installing the cynical atmosphere of racial and economic competition that guides us to our prejudices. In this society, the myth sustains us in our victimhood. You are poor because you choose to be.
You are a criminal because you've made poor choices. If you are a career criminal, it's because it is the only career available to you after that first offense.
Oh yea, I forgot. Remember, you are a little short of cash. It doesn't matter if you need the money for drugs, legal or illegal, or maybe you need to feed your family. You have a gun. And there is nothing wrong with that. It's your constitutional right.
So I guess I'm not surprised there is more criminal activity out there. And as long a people buy the story that all of their problems are caused by the other guy, the black guy, the Muslim guy, the Asian guy, we will never get to the point of dealing with the real problem. There is nothing wrong with our government. There is a hell of a lot wrong with the thinking of some of the people we allow to run it.
Carjackings are more popular for New Orleans criminals than Milwaukee unless that activity is no longer newsworthy in Beertown. Armed robbery is common news in both communities.
I must say, when it comes to sheer guts, imagine three armed masked men invading Bachus at the height of the dinner hour and robbing customers of their valuables. We had a comparable incident in New Orleans last month. Then if you're a Milwaukeean, to get the magnitude of this event, you have to imagine the thieves went down the street a few nights later and hit The Pfister and a couple of other Tony locations.
Then there are the shootings. The bad guys are firing at people because of a bad drug deal, gang activity, someone pissed them off, somebody's relative pissed them off, or just pissed off in general. Oh, there is the occasional shooting because someone refuses to give them the keys to their car during a "jacking." Then, the Tulane medical student interrupted an abduction and attempted rape only to be shot in the stomach. The only reason he didn't get killed was that as the shooter aimed his gun at the gut shoot victim's head, the gun jammed. I guess that should show you, you have to be careful who you buy your firearms from and make sure you get a warranty.
Yes, there are many drug-addicted, brain-addled, desperate people out there, but I posit there is something else going on here. There a lot of people who are in desperate situations. Hopelessness and frustration are causing a strain on our communities and institutions. The friction between the police and the public they are supposed to serve is the daily fare of national news.
The outlandish political campaign is waged right now, as the candidates are forced to lower themselves into the sewer of the modern political thinking of their party and pander to a small but vocal minority to become the presidential candidate nominee of their party.
Recognizing that if they capitulate to this minority, they can't be elected in the general election, we hear a lot of, "I recognize the genuine frustration of the electorate with the government, but..." (fill in each candidate's uneasy and vague dismissal of Donald Trump, leader of the band of malcontents). This is the party of Ronald Reagan, who told us that the "Government was the problem." Did you ever wonder why anyone would think that the government had any solution to our common problems after forty years of "We don't need no stinking government?"
If you are a member of the shrinking middle class stuck with wages of the 1980 and the cost of living of 2015, If you see your kid doing the right things, going to college and trying to find a job, only to have to move back home and because of his college loans can't afford a car much less their own apartment or house, you're probably wondering what happened to "dawn in America." And here you are, thinking of putting something away for your retirement. What were you thinking?
If you're a minority without the opportunity to get further education, can't find a job that will allow you to start and raise a family and find that only equal opportunity employer is selling illegal drugs. What would you do? Maybe drugs aren't your thing; some people will pay plenty for stolen cars so they can be chopped and the parts sold on the illegal market. Then there are those down days when you just need a few bucks to get by. It's easy if you have a gun.
We have to realize a few things in the proceeding scenarios. White, black, yellow, or brown, we can all fall into the hopelessness of 98%. We have sold our representative government to the highest bidder. In return, we can become fabulously rich if we win the lottery, become professional athletes, turn ourselves into reality TV stars, movie, and TV Actor or are the CEO of a Corporation. Realistically, somewhere along the timeline, many of us have to admit our time for all of that is past.
I've said for many years, sooner or later, the so called middle class is going to wake up and realize that school prayer, abortion, concealed carry, and trying to figure out what American Exceptionalism means is the political magician's distraction, so he can pull off his magic.
The magic is a systematic dismantling of our infrastructure, defunding the social safety net, and installing the cynical atmosphere of racial and economic competition that guides us to our prejudices. In this society, the myth sustains us in our victimhood. You are poor because you choose to be.
You are a criminal because you've made poor choices. If you are a career criminal, it's because it is the only career available to you after that first offense.
Oh yea, I forgot. Remember, you are a little short of cash. It doesn't matter if you need the money for drugs, legal or illegal, or maybe you need to feed your family. You have a gun. And there is nothing wrong with that. It's your constitutional right.
So I guess I'm not surprised there is more criminal activity out there. And as long a people buy the story that all of their problems are caused by the other guy, the black guy, the Muslim guy, the Asian guy, we will never get to the point of dealing with the real problem. There is nothing wrong with our government. There is a hell of a lot wrong with the thinking of some of the people we allow to run it.
It's human to look for the source of a problem, and then see it as a "they." They do this, and I would never do that, so they are in another world that I am not. The Repubs did this to themselves with years of casting the government and the poor and the minority as "them."
ReplyDeleteBig Mouth candidate is very good at "they, them" and "their" lack of responsiblity - and I'm learning. See, we can all play. I put the onus on one of the "them" - so, not my problem, is it? --Bill Sell