Sadly, I can’t think of a truer metaphor for current day America than this story.
A man was stabbed to death outside a Maryland Popeyes in a fight over the chain’s popular fried chicken sandwich, police said.
A spokeswoman for the Prince George’s Police Department said the 28-year-old, who has not been identified, was killed at a restaurant in Oxon Hill, outside Washington D.C.
A fight began after someone cut in line, spokeswoman Jennifer Donelan said.
Forget about politics, parties, Trump, etc. This says something about us.
That people have enough rage to kill somebody over a sandwich order tells you all you need to know about a lack of personal control combined with the selfishness that I’m afraid defines so much about what our society is like these days. No, it’s not everybody, but it seems like it’s a lot more than it used to be. I mean, are you surprised by the story?
Christ, this is depressing.
Get The Picture 
I am not surprised. Police were out directing traffic yesterday in front of a Popeyes near my home. My first thought then was that people, in general, are idiots. My second thought after reading this is that we are spoiled, selfish idiots. Strange days indeed.
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Same here, the one on Prince was jammed when I left for the basketball game @ 6:30.
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Speaking of… Howbout that Antman? Took over when he needed to didn’t he? And the team overall finally LOOKS like an SEC team should. We’re so much more athletic across the board. I also watched a ranked Auburn team struggle with Georgia Southern. I think we can be competitive with most SEC teams outside of Kentucky. Reason to be cautiously optimistic.
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“Mean People Suck” bumper stickers are only half right.
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“Forget about politics, parties, Trump, etc.” is US.
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All things are wearisome,
more than one can describe;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear content with hearing.
What has been will be again,
and what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.
Is there a case where one can say,
“Look, this is new”?
It has already existed
in the ages before us.
There is no remembrance
of those who came before,
and those to come will not be remembered
by those who follow after.
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I try to take a little comfort from the fact that we’ve been this dysfunctional before and seemed to rebound for some better days. I hope we can do it again.
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Biblical or Shakespearean ? I truly don’t know but either way totally true and more proof,as if we needed it, that there is nothing new under the sun. Except maybe a 24 hour news cycle, Google,Facebook, Artificial Intelligence and quantum computers……crap I’m going back to bed.
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Biblical. Compiled by Qoheleth (many think a pseudonym for or role filled Solomon). The irony is that (If it we’re) Solomon, he was brought down by his own foolishness inspire of all the wisdom available to him.
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As my Old Testament professor would say, wisdom tells you to flee from idolatry but even wisdom can not conquer the idolatry of the heart. I believe it was Calvin that said something like our hearts are idol factories.
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Is that John Calvin the theologian or Calvin of Calvin and Hobbs?
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Sadly I am not surprised and I see it all the time. I had a wide ranging discussion with a coworker recently about the ease with which people commit violent acts (greater than a fistfight) to solve any disagreement or slight nowadays and generally show no remorse after doing so. Can anyone imagine what it will be like when the teenagers of today are grandparents? Who will be teaching anyone anything worthwhile?
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We are WAY past selfishness as a nation. We are a nation of narcissists. Make no mistake, love him or hate him, our president is exhibit A.
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The real question is whether or not UGA wins a national title before society as we know it ends.
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One thing you aren’t considering when making wholesale judgments about society based on this incident: THE SANDWICHES ARE JUST THAT DELICIOUS.
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I, somehow, find your comment eerily funny but nonetheless true.
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Murder rates were 10.2 in 1980. Now they’re closer to 5.
We’ve got a long way to go to surpass the conditions that existed in 1980.
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Yeah, everything’s just coming up roses these days.
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Well we haven’t had an event like the Sacking of Lawrence in awhile.
I’m not suggesting we’re in a state of Utopia by any means, but the idea that we’ve become MORE rather than less violent as a country over time is pretty damn counter-factual.
In fact, if you could pick a moment to be born in all of human history you’d pick now. Of course, you’d might pick Denmark as the place to be but the point remains, on average, today is better than almost all yesterdays.
I know it’s fun to be older and point your finger and say “in my day!!”, but it’s all bullshit.
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Derek’s right tho. Crime stats peaked in the early 90’s and have been falling for two decades now. The difference is camera phones and mass media means every local story has the potential to go national.
It’s worth mentioning that Americans are a violent people. People highlight gun violence but if you look at deaths by fist, knife, etc., we are much more violent than western Europe (which we are often wrongly compared to). Our cultural preference for violence as a means of conflict resolution is closer to that of Brazil or Mexico than Sweden or Portugal.
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And we’re legally armed which is pretty much unique in the world.
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The Swiss have true assault rifles in a large percentage of homes yet their crime rate with those weapons is practically nil. Concealed Carry Licensees in the US have a similar low crime rate. NFA licensed full auto owners have been responsible for only one crime/murder since its inception in 1968. That was by a policeman.
What I’m trying to point out here is most Americans are decent folks. We don’t have a big problem with crime and violence save for a few high profile psychos and that 5% of young men of all races who simply weren’t raised right.
Except for a few places here violent crime is dealt with swiftly. That’s unlike the corrupt shitholes South of the border where decent folks are at risk of being shot up and burned as part of their daily life.
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That hit and then wholesale slaughter was a little too deliberate to be an accident.
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It would be nice if we stopped insisting that Mexico enforce drug laws for our supposed benefit.
If I was in charge of Mexico I wouldn’t lift a finger trying to prevent Americans from finding all the drugs they want.
The Mexicans aren’t using the drugs.
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I’m not surprised by the story. I’d wager that alcohol or drug influence was involved. But that doesn’t explain the behavior I know we’re gonna see at door buster events right after Thanksgiving.
I cannot put my finger on when this started happening, but the ‘social contract’, or just plain manners and decency, are unraveling.
Do unto others . . . etc.
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I heard about this on the radio but didn’t realize it hit so close to home. I live in PG county, and Oxon Hill is just a few minutes from where I work. The way cities and counties are laid out here is so much different than what I remember growing up in southeast GA.
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This hits for me. I grew up in Brunswick, and when I got old enough to start seeing a little more of the country independently, I was amazed at the idea that you could get to the next town in 5 minutes if traffic allowed.
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In fairness, if there’s a sandwich worth killing for….
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Selfishness combined with envy and lack of self-control in today’s society makes me shudder for the future of my children and my future grandchildren. Society is coming apart at the seams, and there’s not a political solution to any of it.
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Where were you in 1968? None of this is one bit new.
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People weren’t killing each other over chicken sandwiches. You could tell someone you broke in line, go to the back and wait like everyone else without a fight breaking out. By the way, I was born in 1968.
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If you were born then how do you know?
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Really?
People have always been self-centered. The question is what people are willing to do in order to get their way.
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I dunno? Exterminate and remove the Native population?
Put people in chains, ship them across and ocean and put them in fields to pick cotton?
Subjugate millions in order to exploit their natural resources?
We’ll do a lot to get our way it would appear.
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I was only making a comment about individual people’s interaction.
I get your concern about what groups of people can do to each other.
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You don’t think there were billions of private sins related to that social policy?
Of course there were. People were not separated from those decisions. People made them. People executed the policy. People took advantage of those policies.
The fact that those three policies faced little to no resistance from the populations that benefited from them is an indictment on humanity itself. However, I do think we get better not worse.
A huge reason for that progress has been the concept of self-governance. If you want to roll back the clock to real cruelty, end the democratic experiment.
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Yawn.
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I bet you slept through Schindler’s List.
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Among the reasons I love No Country for Old Men is how it makes that point. This pearl clutching about how bad things are and how everything was idyllic before is so stupid.
If facts matter, and I think they do, murder rates are a fraction of what they were in 1980. And that was a pretty damn good year….for UGA fans anyway.
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Have you read Blood Meridian?
Oof. Talk about craven violence
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I haven’t. I should.
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It’s tough sledding the first time but I’ve gone back to it 2 or 3 times and consider it his masterpiece.
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McCarthy may be the toughest American writer to plow thru. I’ve only done his more “accesible” books so far: No Country, All The Pretty Horses, The Crossing.
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Yeah, I rec people start with those. If you’ve done #2 and #3 and like the characters, you ought to read Cities of the Plain. Much of the story is predictable but the ending is a beautiful meditation on life. The Road is also good – better (and more optimistic) than the movie.
I’m less enamored w/ his southern stuff. Child of God is a quick simple read. I didn’t complete Suttree or Orchard Keeper b/c I found them boring and haven’t bothered to pick up Outer Darkness. His early stuff seems too derivative of Flannery O’Connor.
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The Road novel is more optimistic than the movie?!
Holy hell, I should probably avoid ever watching the movie then.
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That’s no lie — that book was about as harsh an appraisal of the human landscape as any I’ve read.
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Cool, a new author (to me) to peruse. Thanks guys!
I read Grisham’s “The Reckoning” last week. Blech.
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Grisham & McCarthy are light years different…
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I have read “The Road” but honestly had to drag my way through it. Not a fun read.
If McCarthy’s other novels are that repetitive and boring I’m afraid I’ll have to pass.
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Try “All the Pretty Horses”. It’s a coming of age adventure and the movie is pretty good too (the title and starring Matt Damon is two strikes, but it’s good)
“The Road” is really a parable on parenthood and the ultimate duty of a parent (to prepare your kids to live without you). Which sounds quaint. But if you’ve read McCarthy you know how terrifying his parables are.
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Grisham has made a lot of money, but he thinks Kingsport is in west Tennessee….I doubt he has ever written a word that mattered. McCarthy has written books full of words that matter.
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Yes, Christ is depressed! Can’t blame Him since so many forget His second greatest commandment: “Love thy neighbor as thyself.”
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quaildqwg is 100% right.
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But Jesus, what if they’re black? Or even worse gay? Surely with the latter you would support us denying their ability to have their marriage recognized by the secular government on the grounds of our religious beliefs.
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I’m as guilty as anyone but just look at how we treat each other here each week. This toxicity HAS to manifest itself somewhere. I’m not saying we’re all going to run out and kill someone, but it certainly erodes our boundaries in other areas.
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Just notice how many of your 75,000 closest friends act like the stadium belongs to only them on Saturday night.
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Nobody ever got killed over a Chik-fil-A sandwich.
Because they suck.
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People don’t kill each other over a CFA sandwich because there are plenty of them. If you think a CFA sandwich sucks, turn in any card that affiliates you as a Georgian. 😉
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Pat, I’ll fight you over that comment!
(Just kidding)
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FWIW, Popeye’s is proving wholly unprepared for these market conditions. When they took 2 month to tighten up the supply chain, they should’ve done a major hiring and training push.
I saw the huge drive through line on Sunday but the store was near empty so I deftly parked and went in. They had one HS kid on the register, turned sideways staring into space. You had to interrupt his staring to order which he managed to do with only 2 mistakes. In the kitchen was 5 or 6 people working very slowly, a manager running around like mad, an expo guy telling everybody what to do and a clearly furious experienced employee screaming at her manager that nobody knew what the hell they were doing.
The sandwich was good tho.
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It’s a damn Popeyes, what do folks expect? Every fast food is inconsistent at best compared to Chick-Fil-A.
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One issue you have in society these days, is for the most part people who want to break the rules/norms usually get a free pass. Take line cutting, be it at a restaurant or where it is most prevalent in people trying to get off an airplane before it is their turn. Due to the fact that most people don’t like confrontation, these people just “get away with it”. Personally I try to say something or subtly block the aisle if someone is doing this on an airplane. They are always like “WTF, I have to get off!”. Yes, you and 150 other people.
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Not this time …
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This leads me to a major pet peeve of mine, something I’ve noticed growing in regularity. As you’re getting off the plane, I’ve always thought you get off front to back. That’s how it was always done in my recollection from childhood to adulthood. Unless you’re racing to make a connection, I don’t know why someone would think they’re entitled to bypass 4-5 rows ahead of them to get off the plane ahead of those people. Everyone else is waiting their turn. But this has been a constant theme in my travels the last year or so.
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Amazing what staring at a phone all day will do to a person…..
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This is not new. We have been killing each other over stupid shit for decades. This doesn’t surprise me.It is the sign of a decadent society. Non starving people killing each other over a chicken sandwich. I think with social media it just gets publicized more these days and yes it is depressing.
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My issue is when did people start bringing knives to chicken joints? I will start by revealing my own bias….I hate,loath,detest line breakers. I have in my lifetime been in two fights with people who think their time is more valuable than mine or believed they were big and/or mean enough to intimidate their way to the head of a line. I understand being upset with a line breaker and as I said, I have no problem with said egotistic assholes getting their lights punched out,but the devil is in the details. When did we stop letting things be settled with a simple fight. When and why does some idiot have to produce a knife just because he got his ass kicked.(obviously I’m assuming facts not in evidence yet but the issue flows in either direction ) Why do these issues get escalated to use of deadly force? Hogbody is probably right regarding alcohol or drugs being involved but there is also probably a guy who never had a man teach him how to be a civilized man. Chose your battle and take it like a man regardless of the outcome. You don’t stab a man just because he beat your ass or humiliated you.
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When did folks decide to use weapons in such disputes? When legislatures started passing “stand your ground” laws. Dude thinks you are going to fight him because he broke in line he can use deadly force rather than retreat.
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Seriously?
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The law in Georgia has ALWAYS been stand your ground. Don’t know about MD. The charge to the jury as long ago as 1980 was there is no duty to retreat so it does not follow that this a new phenomenon based on new laws, Also, if your the one who instigated the conflict you don’t get to avail yourself of stand your ground laws. To be specific, if I’m the guy who breaks in line while armed hoping someone will call me on it so I can pull my gun or knife most Judges I practice in front of would not give a”no duty to retreat” charge. It is just a lack of limits/courtesy and respect for life IMHO.
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As others have said, violent crime rates in the U.S. were far higher in the 80s and 90s than they are today. Sure we know more about the incidents that happen, but that doesn’t mean things were better in the past. We were just oblivious to a lot of it.
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Back in the 90s I watched a news segment- “20/20”, “60 Minutes”, one of those- about a then-famous freeway road rage killing in Northern California. A man had murdered someone over a lane-change. Diane Sawyer, or someone, interviewed the killer, who was in prison for life, and asked him if he regretted his decision. He kept stressing in his replies that the victim had cut into his lane. He seemed to feel very strongly that society was missing the larger point here. Having had a year or two to reflect, he was still certain he’d had no real choice but to end two lives. Over that.
I don’t think this kind of sickness is keyed to an era, but what do I know?
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I guess it’s kind of cute to say that the guy murdered for this terrific sandwich, and in a sick kind of way, it’s even more hype for the product, but the way I read it, he killed over a place in line.
Someone will now say that the place in line was the difference in getting served or not, but I’m thinking that murdering someone greatly decreased, rather than increased, his odds of being served.
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So according to the FBI violent crime is down by 50% since the late 90s? Why doesnt it feel that way? My business sits on the edge of the iron triangle and it feels like it is calmer than it was ten years ago. Not sure if statisitics would correspond with how it feels.
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2019/09/30/new-fbi-data-violent-crime-still-falling
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Age and anxiety has a correlation. You just worry about shit more as you get older. You remember you worried less when you were 18.
It’s a thing.
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I imagine. I actually don’t really worry about it at all. I just wonder what mechanisms are a play to make us feel like this type of thing is getting worse when it is actually getting better.
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24 hour news cycle plus “social” media spreading outrage non-stop.
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^this.
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Not really. I have become much more controlled and mellow as I age. Most if not all of my friends are the same.
Somebody breaks in line I simply say “excuse me – I had no idea you were so special” then smile.
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“I don’t go on line I don’t watch TV. ‘Cause I know that all I’m gonna see is something stupid going on. ‘Cause stupid’s in the water these days. They’re gonna drink it anyway. ‘Til they don’t know right from wrong.”-Chris Knight
Obviously I do go online but I avoid social media like the plague other than the comments section here and the comments section of the play pen is typical of what is wrong. I know it isn’t the entire issue but I think people seriously underestimate what social media is doing to the way we think and the way we interact. It ain’t good folks and yes, I have been part of the problem here. Read a Derek post for a perfect example. He says he talks to people the same way in person. In the age of social media that’s probably common. Trump is a symptom not the problem.
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Stupidity is a greater sin than rudeness Mike. And, as you well know, you can be both.
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Stupidity is involuntary. Rudeness is a choice. But the star of the show is the poor soul who combines both with the arrogance of a child. That poor dumb ass believes he has the imprimatur to howl into the abyss about Russians and the cleansing righteousness of violence.
That has certainly gotten worse in the last few decades. In 1980, dumb asses didn’t have platforms. Their reach was limited. In 2019, a single dumb ass can spend every Wednesday after school screaming about how stunning and brave he is by accusing half of the American population of being Nazis.
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Damn.
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Whatever makes you feel justified I guess, Derek. There are different kinds of stupidity just like there are different kinds of intelligence. While you seen fairly intelligent in some ways, you broadcast an epic level of stupidity in others.
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Disagreement isn’t “stupid,” stupid.
I don’t call people stupid who I disagree with. I call people stupid who ignore the facts that are wiggling on their own face.
People are entitled to their own opinions. They aren’t entitled to their own facts. When they make up facts to draw an opinion, that’s stupid.
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And you are one of the world’s worst about wanting to have your own facts. Among other things.
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Example.
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Judge me by my enemies.
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Or your inability to back up your bullshit.
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“They say Trump is making Russia great. That’s basically accurate,” pointed out Karen Shakhnazarov, CEO of Mosfilm Studio and a prominent fixture on Russian state television. “The chaos brought by Trump into the American system of government is weakening the United States. America is getting weaker and now Russia is taking its place in the Middle East. Suddenly, Russia is starting to seriously penetrate Africa… So when they say that Trump is weakening the United States—yes, he is. And that’s why we love him… The more problems they have, the better it is for us.”
Traitors should be told to go fuck themselves. A lot.
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The American empire must remain strong. Brown people can’t govern themselves, so we bear the white man’s burden to take care of them. And better we spend the trillions of dollars so that the Russians don’t get to do it. It’s the whole Cold War thinking of making the USSR bankrupt itself in reverse!
But actually waging genocidal war on behalf of America’s enemies isn’t traitorous. That just smart geopolitics of the enemy of my enemy is also my enemy … or something. Good thinking, Derek.
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Sometimes the traitor is so painfully stupid you don’t waste your time.
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Right. You’re so patriotic you should go enlist for Al Qaeda when you turn 18.
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Props for the Chris Knight lyric. Thought I might be the only one that still listened to him. New album ‘Almost Daylight’ is as good as any of his.
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Yes sir it is. The Damn Truth is my favorite track from his new one, Idelwild.
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… and you’re surprised by this? We live in a Banana Republic.
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News of the Weird: 20 years ago, this makes a blurb in a weekly column in the local paper.
Now, it’s instantly available in damn near real time and most importantly, infinitely scalable.
Same applies to rank disinformation as well, and we as consumers are still working out how to deal with this new onslaught of data, both good and bad.
30 years ago watched two best friends get into a fight over a girl at a bar, and one of them stabbed the other. Realized what he had done and drove his buddy to the ER.
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Not in the least. Just hang around 20 more years and see what the good old USA looks like. Elect Elizabeth Warren! As Everett Dirksen(?) said 50 years ago, ” A trillion here and a trillion there, soon it adds up to real money.” Of course, in his day, he was talking about paltry billions.
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It’s really touching that you’re concerned about the national debt. But only if Warren gets elected…
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It’s not debt when Reagan, Bush, Bush and Trump are driving massive explosions in annual operating deficits. It’s investment.
And it’s not deficit reduction when Carter and Clinton are handing their successors balanced budgets, or Obama cuts an inherited $1 trillion+ operating deficits by more than 50%. It’s socialism.
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Nobody gives a shit about the deficit. Nobody.
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Dick Cheney nods in agreement.
I know. I just like to point out to people that our 3 Democratic Presidents have been infinitely more fiscally responsible than our 4 Republican.
And not even to push D>R, just to push back on the “D=deficit” narrative. That’s exactly backwards at this point.
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Thank God history began in 1977. Otherwise, some folks might include the >$100 trillion of unfunded liabilities from Social Security and Medicare in the tally of “fiscally responsible” Democrats.
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$100 trillion? really? what is your source? Is it the Washington Examiner again? So says the guy who recently posted content on this board from Daily Stormer.
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The trustee reports are online.
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There’s actually a chic, au courant school of economic thought that says government has a monopoly on money so it can print/spend/issue/credit to accounts/deem into existence all the money it wants. Modern Monetary Theory I think. Total crackpots but they’re the bee’s knees right now.
In a way, somebody cares about deficits; they love ’em.
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Here’s something we should all care about.
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/timothymeads/2019/11/06/ice-catches-illegal-alien-drunk-driver-after-sanctuary-city-releases-him-from-jail-n2556006
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Well, not so much socialism as accounting gimmicks. Those can be useful. Implementing Obamacare that will cost $1 in the first year, eventually rising to $gazillion when Obama’s out of office is just balanced economics, eh?
Warren’s shortcoming is that she’s actually produced her $5.2 trillion per year Medicare for all plan. But what’s $5 trillion among friends, eh? It’s not like American taxpayers were planning on putting that money to good use.
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You don’t think her plan to spend an extra $5 trillion a year might just be significant?
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Concern troll is concerned.
First off, it’s not gonna pass, so it’s aspirational. Second, maybe you haven’t noticed, but we’re already spending a shit ton on health care. Third, I bet you’re totally cool with the next tax cut the Republicans are going to offer before the election.
Like I said, nobody gives a shit about the deficit.
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Ah. I appreciate your blithe dismissal of proposals that won’t pass. I’ll have to remember that little trick. Maybe Bernie can propose $1 million stipend for everyone to outdo Yang? It’s not like we’re talking REAL money here. And why get worked up about Trump shutting down travel along the Mexican border? It’s not like it’s actually going to happen.
And yes, I am in favor of tax cuts for two reasons. One, taxes are bad things in and of themselves. Two, taxes can’t be raised enough to significantly impact the deficit. The deficit will only be eliminated through lower spending. So, despite your implications to the contrary, it’s possible to be in favor of tax cuts AND to give a shit about the deficit.
Funny how everybody just seems to accept that spending can’t possibly get any lower.
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“Taxes are bad things in and of themselves”. Really? Even when those taxes are used to pay for roads, schools, etc.?
“It’s possible to be in favor of tax cuts AND to give a shit about the deficit.” I agree that it’s possible, but how many of our congressman share that view? Even the rare few that do share it are deadlocked with the other party on where to cut spending.
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Yes. If I rob you, do you really care whether I’m using my plunder to buy drugs or to buy food? I would say that it doesn’t really matter. It’s still theft.
Oh, I’m not talking about Congress. I agree that few in Congress (maybe Amash) actually want to lower spending and tackle the deficit and debt.
But, if my option is for the country to go into debt by buying the newest, unnecessary fighter jet, or by buying every citizen a new pony, or by letting taxpayers keep some more of their own money, I choose the most moral choice of letting people keep their own property.
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I don’t agree with your underlying premise that taxation = theft.
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Fair enough. I just don’t recognize, “We all voted and we’re in favor of taking your property from you,” as moral sanction for theft.
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It’s at least a little better than a monarchy or dictatorship where it’s “you didn’t get a vote and I’m still taking your property from you”.
But seriously, how would you propose to manage those things I mentioned above (roads and schools, I’ll throw in law enforcement and emergency responders) if you eliminate taxation?
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Through voluntary markets. Private security forces are more effective than police. Private schools are more effective than government schools. It pretty much works that way across the board.
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Wow, talk about “your blithe dismissal of proposals that won’t pass”.
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I never said that spending cuts are likely. To the contrary. I have said that they’re unlikely. But that doesn’t change the mathematical reality that tax increases can’t significantly impact the deficit.
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Really? Ask George Bush about that. Or Jerry Brown.
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I wouldn’t really use the fact that tax cuts were part of a strategy to address a $100 billion deficit as proof that they can be the primary mechanism to address a deficit 10x that, or 50x, whatever.
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I assume you mean tax increases, not cuts, there, but in any event, you’ve moved the goal posts from “But that doesn’t change the mathematical reality that tax increases can’t significantly impact the deficit.”
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I did mean tax hikes. But I haven’t changed my stance. The Trump tax cuts, which caused the left to go apoplectic because of the impact on the deficit, were about $150 billion a year. That’s around 15% of the current deficit. So that’s something. But I’m not calling it significant.
And if Democrats get their spending priorities enacted in Medicare for all, more spending on education, Green New Deal, whatever else, then the deficit is going up bigly. And then the taxes that could currently be 15% of the deficit become a much smaller portion.
And while there’s no limit to how much the government can print and/or borrow, there’s only so much that taxpayers can be bled. Once the deficit is $2 trillion or $5 trillion, taxes become insignificant. So I stand by my original point.
In fact, I would argue that Gramm-Rudman would have been more successful at decreasing federal spending and debt than the Bush tax hike/budget deal was.
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I am more worried about an actual and current President and the actual and current deficit we are running right now.
Anyone talking about what a maybe-President Warren might get passed by a who-knows-what-it-would-look-like Congress is falling for yet another liberal squirrel! distraction.
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Or wants to score a couple of quick cheap concern points…
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Yep
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Accusations of being a concern troll implies my motives are disingenuous. They’re not. I really, actually, don’t want the federal government to increase spending by 130%.
It’s amusing that my frugality of NOT wanting to spend an extra $5.2 trillion a year gains me accusations of being a disingenuous radical. I would argue that it’s simply proof that I’m capable of rational thought.
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I get it. Alone among us all, your heart is pure.
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Not necessarily pure, just honest and nonpartisan.
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“Nobody gives a shit about deficits” is honest and nonpartisan.
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Then why not make that your stance, instead of dismissing actual policies put forth by Democrats that will explode the deficit? I agree that Trump doesn’t want to cut the deficit. But at least he doesn’t want to quadruple it, which is nice.
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You don’t think that the actual policies of the actual front runner of the Democrats for the actual presidential election is a valid concern? Do we have to elect Warren before we can learn what her plans are?
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When you can talk about the deficit Trump and a Republican -controlled Congress actually created this actual year, then we maybe can find some time to talk about the theoretical deficit a theoretical President Warren might theoretically incur.
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I haven’t denied the existence of the deficit. It definitely exists and it’s too high. It’s curious that you would support a candidate who plans to more than double federal spending. Is that “fiscal responsibility?”
FWIW, I have stated in past playpens that Republicans are only slightly less culpable than Democrats in running up the huge national debt. Both parties are addicted to spending and neither party has any intention of cutting the debt.
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You shrugged your shoulders when I pointed out that Trump’s budget is going to increase the federal budget deficit (per the CBO) because “hey! every us president increases the deficit”
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/21/cbo-expects-deficit-to-grow-more-than-projected-warns-tariffs-could-harm-growth.html
But if Elizabeth Warren is going to increase the deficit your response is “OMG, how irresponsible!!!!!”
Why do I get the feeling you don’t care about fiscal irresponsibility so long as the people who do it are Republicans…..
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The good news is that Trump and blind defenders like NB have pushed the R half of my family – a defense contractor VP and an EO/corporate lawyer – into an honest look at the assumptions they bring into the ballot box.
First time ever our entire family is going to be voting for the same presidential candidate: ABT.
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It’s curious to view the tribalism going on. I’m split on Trump’s policies. Tax cuts and deregulation are good. Tariffs are bad. But in the eyes of many on this board, that makes me a partisan Trump defender. He’s got to be all bad all the time.
On the other hand, actual partisans here can accept Warren while ignoring her minor plan to bankrupt the country. What’s a little fascism when compared to tax cuts (recoils in horror)?!?
If you honestly believe that you have too much control over your life and your property, can’t you resolve that without involving the rest of us? Just write extra checks to the Treasury every month. They’ll cash them. Maybe sign a power of attorney over to your deadbeat cousin.
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Here is a fact.
$5.2 trillion > $150 billion
And it’s not even close. We’re talking orders of magnitude.
My question is, why does pointing out that fact make me a partisan Trump apologist? Do you actually believe that more than doubling the federal budget is just a tiny bit different than Trump’s policies? I doubt that you believe that.
So yes, deficits are bad. But some deficits are worse than others. A $1 trillion deficit is much, much better than a $6 trillion deficit. Even if a Democratic president proposes the $6 trillion deficit.
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You are ignoring the order of magnitude.
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I really do not really give a damn. My wife and I pursued our professions without the bother of children; rather successfully I might add. It is people with grandchildren that better give a damn, including you, Blowtarsky, if you have grandchildren.
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If you really don’t give a damn, then why bring it up in the first place?
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I am just trying to give good advice to those with progeny. What about you, Blowtarsky? All you give is a smart ass comment. Of course, what can one expect of a smart ass lawyer who thinks his shit does not stink.
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At least one of us is good at what we’re doing here.
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And according to the authors of Freakonomics, Roe vs Wade had a significant effect on the reduction of violent crime starting in the 90s. Even though Rudy Giuliani likes to think it was him.
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Sanger, Wilson, Tillman, and the other eugenists from 100 years ago would agree
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Not all economists are on board with that theory …
https://journalistsresource.org/studies/economics/abortion-crime-research-donohue-levitt/
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I believe we are considerably less violent and confrontational than we were 40 years ago. And I have no doubt statistics would back that up.
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Yep – the murder rate alone is about half what it was in the glorious 80’s. Auto thefts are down 70%. Air and water pollution is significantly less. Access to information and communication is absurdly better; same for healthcare. Also access to more/better foods, transportation, goods, services, price of clothing and other key needs is far cheaper…I can go on and on.
Heck, my dad constantly traveled for his sales career when I was a kid, hauling physical equipment around, and many times I only saw him on weekends. Now, thanks to technology, you can do remote video meetings and such, with online demos of software and thus cutting travel down 80% or more. My dad hated being gone so much but it happy to see me in a similar career yet home most nights.
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In 1989, a kid was killed for his Air Jordans. In 1969, the Manson Family murdered seven people to kick off Helter Skelter. In 1924, Leopold and Loeb killed a young boy to prove how smart they were. Senseless violence has always been a part of society. And it always will be.
But you are correct that the occurrence of violent crime has been decreasing for decades.
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Others have touched on this, but we are so much better off as a society now than we were 20 or 50 years ago. The problem today is everything gets reported and everything is documented via a cellphone, whereas in the past only major stories would be covered by Cronkite and such.
My young kids are in far better position than I was as a kid in the 80’s, even though I look back on my youth with fondness overall. And chances are their kids will have it better as well. Yes, there will always be crime and bad things that happen, but overall as a society we are far safer with so many more advantages at our fingertips.
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Vote for none of the above – Monty Brewster
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Today’s world can be summed up with a 1993 Adam Sandler quote- “one time I ate my neighbor’s shit”
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More media……more exposure
More people = more crazy people
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I try to avoid pulling out the aphorisms, but Mother Teresa’s words feel apropos:
“If we have no peace, it is because we’ve forgotten that we belong to each another.”
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Now I’m confused. Just how many chicken sandwiches can one buy with a trillion dollars?
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Or a trillion knives
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Some very interesting comments concerning where we were and where we are.
The politicians are driving the anger we see today. As politicians try to pull voters into their web they turn each of us against the the other. Victimization – class envy – wealth envy – race envy – identity politics and on and on we go while none of it makes for a better society. Divide and conquer is working well.
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Repeal the 17th amendment !
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That is the worst amendment.
On that note, I know a guy who was playing bar trivia, and the question was “what amendment gave women the right to vote.” He wrote down “the worst one”. True story.
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“This says something about us.”
Us? Hardly.
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