I apologize for the extremely delayed response and if you are no longer interested in this conversation I totally understand. Life is just sort of kicking me around right now and I didn't have time.
I genuinely appreciate that and I take it with the empathy it was clearly intended to convey. But at the same time the fact remains that people like me have no recourse. If we weren't starting shit then we can't change our behavior to avoid such bad interactions. We're at the mercy of those bad apples because even if we're brave enough to attempt to file some sort of complaint it's not met with any real acknowledgement or changes in policy or repercussions for the violator. In fact, the lack of action on the part of good officers is one of my chief issues. I understand there can be repercussions for officers too, but ya'll are the ones best in a position to force change and to force a bad officer out of the job. And then there's the default position of the courts that police officers are always to be believed. So even when something does make it to the courts, justice is rare.
Have you actually seen some of where he talks about this? Because honestly, you and he agree an
awful lot. He discusses the money and time for training factor, as well.
Jocko Willink Weighs In on Defunding the Police | Joe Rogan - YouTube I also think we could do a lot towards extending the resources police have by not having them act as revenue collectors and parents. I don't need someone to tell me I can't drink a beer on my porch when they could be chasing down the guy who car jacked the young college student one street over. But they get aimed at me and my porch beer because there's revenue to be collected there. Politicians do that, not cops. Or at least that's the way it seems. Not sure any young men start their early life thinking "I wanna be a cop so I can stop middle aged widows from having open containers within city limits."
I agree. The courts have not been a friend to any of us. But at the same time where is the line where the individual cop says, "This is wrong. This is not what I signed up to do." This is another area where collectively the police and their unions have more power than the average citizen. They could refuse to enforce the changes courts make the same as in some areas they have refused to enforce masks and whatnot. It would at the very least be a step, draw attention, and let people know the police at least
want to act honorably.
I think this is the heart of our disagreement. I think, at a core level (perhaps because you are in law enforcement) you are simply more optimistic than I am about the potential for good and change. I think everyone is making too much money and power off the current paradigm for it to be improved. I think the rare decent men (like yourself) who go into law enforcement for the right reasons will either eventually move on to something else or be corrupted themselves because there's no other way to survive it.
Tell me, what do you think of more decentralization of police forces? I can imagine in a place like Texas, for example, there would be radically different ways of policing Dallas vs Wichita Falls. Here, while JPD is separate the MBI (MS Bureau of Investigation) has its grubby little fingers in everyone's pies. And you can tell it by the corruption scandals we've had.
I agree moving away from social media is good but I disagree with banning anyone from much of anything. Choice is always better. Let water seek its level.
And then some.
Report from the wild: I'm trying so hard to get my business restarted and the whole lockdown thing appears to be re-starting. Normally, by now (August) I'd have been totally booked for Thanksgiving and partially booked for Christmas and fielding New Year's inquiries. Last year nothing, of course. But this year it was picking up. I was partially booked up for Thanksgiving. I thought I was gonna make it. Places opening back up. Three of my bartender clients had returned to pre-pandemic hours. All that has changed in the last 2 weeks. Masks are going back on. I've had multiple cancellations for the holidays and bars are reducing hours in preparation for another "wave". I had to take a job doing the books at a local store to make ends meet so I'm basically working two jobs because I really don't want to give up my business. I don't have to wear a mask at the store because I'm in the office but all the floor staff does. In summer. In Mississippi. My daughter's gym has reduced hours and stopped towel service "due to the Delta variant". This whole thing is fucking ridiculous and I'm so fucking angry. This is what the powers that be want, it feels like. People like me who were relatively free to live their lives are now having to go from being pretty self sufficient to seeking work in the corporate world where vaccines and masks will be forced upon them. I've lived here all my life and I am seriously considering moving someplace like Montana because I just can't see living like this long term. (Does Witchita Falls have a doggy daycare? lol) Just having to go wherever the political wind shifts? Whatever politicians wake up this morning and want people to do to put money into the pockets of the establishment no matter how much it crushes our way of life? I can't plan for anything long term and that's no way to run a business. I don't wanna sit on my ass and collect stimulus checks. I want my fucking life back.
This is kind of scary too:
https://twitter.com/MichaelPSenger/s...03190593708033 Because I honestly am not willing to tolerate the level of interference these people seem determined to thrust upon us. I'm just not. But what happens when there's no place left to go? Surely there will be pockets of those of us who don't want to live like this? But it feels like this is going to get bad. Actual bad. Not "well, I guess I'm not flying Delta again" bad but really, really Maoist China bad.
I'm also really disgusted by all the people pissing and moaning about a virus- something that is just a part of life on this planet- while choosing to stuff their faces with Big Macs and sit on their asses. Look, fat is fine. Fluffy is fine. Just be functional and eat decent and you won't really have a problem having a few pounds on you. But these people, even the skinny ones, wanna eat shit, take drugs to fix problems they could easily rid themselves of and then expect the rest of us to wear masks because they are so damn unhealthy that what's basically a flu virus might send their weak asses to the hospital. We have to sacrifice the way we live but they can't even slow the shoving of Cheetos down their gullets. If they are so fucking scared why aren't they fixing the real health issues in this country? Why are we dishing out millions in drugs so they can stay eating shit and turning to sludge on their couches? Why hasn't Fauci come out against McDonalds and Burger King? How come people like us who don't buy the company line about the vaccine are the enemy but Dominoes isn't?
Wow. You are stupid. Not ignorant, because I think you have the capacity to educate yourself it just wouldn't help your argument so you chose to remain stupid. Defense not only enables everything else it's the intersection of jobs, training, inventions, and the freedom you have to sit here and spout this stupid shit without some other nation's soldiers lining you up against a wall. We spend a lot of money on it, little man, because we are a high value target. Other nations spend less because they know in the end we will step in and save them. It's
our vigilance that keeps the wolves from the doors. You aren't living in a post-apocalyptic wasteland because of our defense budget. You're welcome.