Let’s be crystal clear about this. There’s nothing glamorous about what happened to Oliver Taylor Hawkins. He’s a 50-year-old man with three kids who died in a hotel room a long, long way from home.
Before Covid, I was working on a book about drugs and the brilliance of the drug legalization lobby, which has through a series of long-repeated half-truths and outright lies managed to redefine not just our norms but our very vocabulary around drug use. The legalizers are patient and well-funded and they are winning.
I hope one day I’ll have the chance to come back to it.
I used to be libertarian on recreational drug use until my state started allowing just that. You can have small amounts of heroin, meth, fentanyl, (you name it), and not be prosecuted. So what happened? Thousands of people are now living in tents with free food and other subsidies while they slowly kill themselves with their addictions. That's what happened.
Now I'm for enforcing the law against loitering, camping in unauthorized areas, and any kind of drug possession. Rehab, mental health treatment, or jail should be the only choices.
Drugs were legal in 1910 - you could go to a drugstore and get all the heroin you could afford. What didn't exist was the free food and subsidies, and "hobo villages" got run off, lawbreakers ended up on chain gangs. So there were definitely incentives to not get into that lifestyle.
Agree entirely. Most people don't want freedom, they want license. The difference is that freedom includes the complimentary obligation of responsibility. License is simply permission to do whatever you want without suffering the consequences of your behavior.
When it comes to vagrancy, I am more strict. Hobos do not have the right to camp in front of my house, or a business or in the park, or anywhere. The taxpayers of this country part with their hard-earned money specifically so they don't have to deal with filthy, drug addled degenerates everywhere they go. They want their kids to be safe to walk to kindergarten down a city street by themselves, like my father did years ago and like I did in the suburbs.
And yet.... Americans are clearly the most generous group of people on earth, rather from "guilt" because we are so blessed, or, simply the Judeo-Christian ethic in even those not associated with any religion, an American has great difficulty passing a person laying on the sidewalk begging for food, and too often, a little cash for another bottle of cheap booze. I don't have the answers, but seems somehow, somewhere we could find open spaces to take these folks, have them grow food, prepare it, raise animals, even sleep in the safari type tents that have floors and electricity, give them tasks and meaningful work to begin to build the basics of self-esteem, working, having a routine, surely anything is better than the way we handle it now ! ?
This type of shared communal living, hate to even use the word socialism here, was tried early on during the settling of the American colonies. The idea failed, because human nature, being the same today as it was back then, is such that not everyone took on their fare share of the burden. That's when John Smith, the dude in charge at the time, decided to give each person or family a separate piece of land and famously declared, "those who will not work will not eat". Capitalism, AOC, has brought more people in the world out of poverty than any other system in history. That it is not perfect is hardly a reason to scrap it and institute a system that has repeatedly failed throughout human history. And I am not saying that society should not take care of those who are truly unable to provide for themselves.
Absolutely agree with all, there were other "experiments" of similar models in many states in more recent times, turn of the century, etc. quite a famous one here in Florida, one in Ohio, and I believe Wisconsin once too. They were experiments kind of grouped together as "utopian" communities. Of course they didn't work, and still don't, nothing has worked as well as the imperfect system of capitalism. However, I do think an adaptation of a "communal model" could serve to remove people from living on the city streets, and also teach capitalism at the same time. I think it is possible, just not likely to happen, at least in a model that would actually accomplish much !
I have a friend that I have known for the past 62 years who is a local homeless person. We have had some very interesting conversations about homelessness over the years since he has lived on the streets. These people are well cared for already. They know where to go to get food, clothing blankets etc for free. Beyond this there is no "community" that arises out of homelessness. If you don't carry your stuff with you or have a safe hideout your stuff is looted by other homeless people. When I confronted him about getting off the street, and why, I got a bunch of BS about too many rules, etc. These people area living where they want to be, and any additional "help" just makes the problems associated with homelessness worse for the communities they live in.
Yes, that's another aspect of this really complicated condition, it becomes inculcated. As you say, they learn how to take advantage of everything those providing it hope will "help" them "up and out". I've noticed, just in passing, many individuals in these urban encampments do have a kind of "dog eat dog" mentality, stealing from each others, etc. , while others, particularly those of all veterans, seem to have a share and share alike kind of philosophy. Could be the paranoia has taken over those where the "dog eat dog" mentality exists. Paranoia from the drugs, or possibly from past combat experiences, but most revealing was your telling of trying to have honest talks with your friend and getting nothing but "word salads" (i.e. BS, as you called it LOL !) "Too many rules" is a clue, teens often use that one when struggling between carnal desires and the maturing process. I agree your friend is living exactly where he wants to (or thinks he wants to ?) in a park, and alley, or under a bridge. So maybe the only answer is a STARK choice, to a state sponsored working farm or ranch, or, jail. Then, how can we provide that many jails for those who choose jail ? Yet how can we just let this continue to grow, it's getting dangerous now just to walk a few blocks in the city to the one grocery still open !
The UK docu series 'Filth Rich and Homeless' was quite enlightening on how many homeless do in fact choose to be, because they do not want to integrate into normal society's rules. Fascinating watch.
For sure that's part of it; well meaning people, and not so well meaning local and federal governments are definitely not on the "tough love" philosophy train, but also many in my area at least, are military combat vets, others rejected their right to 12 years of free public education, and soon found their way to the drug life. A much smaller, but important number, had no involvement in drugs until an accident or dental emergency when a doctor (and a good number of dentists here) got them started on some very addictive drugs. It's a real "mixed kettle" as the old saying goes, and the bottom line is our American culture is disintegrating before our eyes as we grasp and grope at a variety of ineffective measures, but NOT supporting the life style by government checks each month might at least be a very good start ? But then, you get to the question, would there be popular support for cutting off checks to disabled veterans (drug addicted) ? Are people ready to deny even food stamps for teen mothers (strung out) and their babies ? Throughout history there have been those driven to various drugs and in this century it has definitely become much more complicated with no clear "causes" and certainly no "cures". Frankly I don't have as much confidence in legalizing all drugs having a deterrent effect, as some on this forum believe. But, it looks like we are certainly moving rapidly in that direction (an entire industry is now in place, including distribution similar to a grocery or fast food chain. I don't think this "try" at winning the "drug war" is going to work either, but I'll reserve harsh judgment. I see increased usage, especially the younger less mature users, I anticipate greater drop out and graduation rates, increased accidents and higher insurance policy rates. Increased need to expand police forces to deal with groups of unemployed teens and non working adults, an uptick in petty theft in stores as the ability to finance the drug routine increases and income decreases or ends due to lack to responsibility at work, or complete inability to work. Let's hope none of this happens as we continue on our quest for complete freedom in regard to now illegal drugs. Let's hope it does not push the numbers higher of who become so unreliable (from addiction to the legal drug alcohol also) that they can no longer maintain a simple job, or cause the drop out rate to go even higher ! Long ago we decided, as a nation, education was THE answer to create a cohesive society, strong families, and a sound economy. We decided it was the key to an informed and intelligent electorate. We made the very tough decision to hold parents responsible for seeing that their children got this education...regardless. Regardless of the family need for the child to work, regardless of the willful child's determination NOT to be educated, regardless of the economic impact "truant" fines may have on a family already struggling financially. Another angle study; the distinct pattern of the children of the super wealthy and privileged, even if they are involved in drugs. doing drugs, are still required by their family to stay in school (most often private and presenting a much more rigorous academic curriculum than public schools), and then made to go to university, again, regardless of their drug involvement. Do the super wealthy realize something others don't ? The value of taking responsibility of insisting on education in the hope that at a future time, their children will realize the value and wisdom of why they were made to get an education ?
Why can't "ordinary" parents insist on this just as wealthy parents do ? Very complex to be sure, but, of course "ordinary" people "could" do the same. Dr. Ben Carson has often spoken publicly about how his mother, who certainly had no option of sending him off to a private residential prep school to get him off the streets, insisted on his school attendance, saw to it that he had plenty of homework, and ultimately saved him from what could have been the life of an addict or a criminal, or both.
So, why not at least try mandatory education ? Sure can't make things worse, and just might get us farther than mandatory vaccinations !
Ann Marie, I've thought the same .. for a decade plus. Your post will probably not garner much attention or <crazy> likes; but, I like your thought process. Your suggestions are a good place to start.
Well I'm not the "social worker" type, lol, but seriously, we have to do something, and no one seems to have any workable ideas. I thought about a big city I lived in when the homeless problem was nothing like present, but while not THE answer, it was clear that the Salvation Army in that city was actually making progress by taking homeless addicts far far away to a working farm they had established. Made me think recently, could we not find "wide open spaces" somewhere in this country, where people could learn how to live again ? I don't know, not a social worker, but surely we could make some progress.
Recently I read Jean Leidloff's Continuum Concept as a friend (a young woman) has been raising her child according to these principles. The child is incredibly calm, well-behaved and responsible. She was toilet trained before age 2. And she very much *wants* to participate and be responsible as she is able, even as a 3-year-old
The book and the ideas are revoluntionary, and I suspect if society could rearrange itself so that children really mattered, we'd see much less addiction and subsequent homelessness. (Jean Liedloff surmised as much.) She is part of a small but I suspect growing group of parents who are seeking a new way of parenting (which is actually an ancient way of parenting), and there is no reason that children couldn't be accommodated by modern businesses (except that they don't want to).
I understand the rebellion against society's "rules" because modern society is indeed an invisible form of slavery. I think many of the rebellious understand this at least subconsciously. But the only way to *truly* dismantle it is with sobriety, and awareness and super-responsibility as my friend is doing, and create the seeds of a new system.
I strongly encourage anyone with even mild curioustiy to read the book and become familiar with it.
While I love the caring and thought process, and would even support such an approach, I think we would find that most don't want to leave that life. In almost every case that I have had extended interaction with homeless people, they want to stay in the addiction and are accepting of the fact that they must continue to live as they presently do in order to keep it.
Totally agree with one caveat; I recently had personal experience with an extended family member who definitely wanted to continue the "life style" (even after once having tasted a very high degree of career and financial success !) even after a succession of ever decreasing homes, from beach front condos to by the week motels and finally, the actual streets. For the very reason you stated, did not want to leave the homeless state as there would be "strings" attached to make drug use difficult if not impossible. The interesting thing is she now explains to people how that is also just a part of the entire condition; says that is a "mental state" to "protect" the addiction and will eventually leave the mind (unless damaged beyond repair) once drugs have been withdrawn for an extended period of time. The human mind is a marvelous and mysterious thing...remember there are those who have had all the Covid vaccinations and boosters the law presently allows, and yet, even while dying of Covid, will continue to insist the present vaccinations work and protect and advocate for them with their dying breath. We saw many examples of this during the pandemic when the news would interview health care workers who witnessed this first hand as they attended dying patients. I personally believe addiction can make rational thought impossible because it would mean abandoning the drugs/life style. Just one opinion among so many !
Lots of things can make "rational" thought impossible. Dementia comes to mind. But so can denial, programming, massive propaganda campaigns broadcast by all various forms of the mainstream / corporate media, including most of the so-called "alternative" or "progressive" media, etc.
Truth. Finding those ready to receive that help is the challenge. When we do, we should go all in to help them on the recovery journey. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
When we had State Mental Hospitals that’s exactly what they did. The patient were responsible for growing/raising food, had small government council, even a fire dept! They were small Cities were the patients learned to have a purpose in life
But that's the point, that's not exactly "communal living". That was supervised, professionally treated patient rehab. Reagan did away with funding for mental hospitals.
Always amazing to me how ONE MAN has so much power to change the face of America to it's detriment... Like now, with Brandon, puppeted by his handlers.
First Reagan was at the tail end of a long fight by the democrat controlled ACLU. I worked in the State Hospital through that. It was very much like supervised communal living for many years. Then the ACLU was convinced by major donors that it was some type of forced labor and had to be stopped
The stories a long one but you get the point. Reagan saw a way to save money and went along. It wasn’t a republican democrat issues at the end. It was the ACLU screwing up one more needed service for a very rich donor
Yes. There must be a better way to deal with the homeless population that keeps growing. Unfortunately, no one ever mentions the biggest cause which is the property tax on homes which keeps growing and growing. Shelter, like food and clothing, is a basic necessity and should not be taxed. My biggest expense is the tax on my modest home which is now over $5,000 per year.
There are many people who work full time and cannot afford a modest home or apartment. It's a ridiculous situation.
Certainly understand ! We lived in Illinois (never found a thing they could not tax there) for some time. They even taxed food and medicines, not to mention the outrageous property taxes. Took a position in Florida, what a SHOCK, knew it would be a quite an improvement, but the first time I bought groceries I had a momentary thought "this can't be right", clerk noticed my look and asked "is something wrong" ? I just said thought total was low for what I purchased. I was so used to taxes on everything, even food and medicine ! Next shock, very first pay check, got 7.5 % raise....no state income tax. Then came the real estate tax bill, school district, fire district, etc. not the $6100 of our 3BR 2 Bath 2600 sq. ft. home, but $1872 for only slightly smaller home (2600) in Florida. Don't intend to move north again ever....LOL ! Fresh fruit and vegetables year round, and fresh caught sea food, is a nice extra, but that fresh Florida caught sea food is the same, or only slightly less expensive than in the "north".
Forgot to add the best part of the story about moving "south". When I had that first experience in the grocery store, and the clerk noticed my puzzled look at that total (because I could not find the TAX on the bill) I explained it didn't appear to add total the taxes. She said there are no taxes because I only had "necessary items", in other words my order contained no toys, beach coverups, small waste baskets or any of the various other things one can find in grocery stores these days. "You can't charge taxes on things people MUST have", she said, "you ONLY have necessities". ( I had food, aspirin, band aids, all kinds of things to stock the new medicine cabinet, etc. !) "Well", I said, "they sure don't know that in Illinois !" Instead of laughing, she looked really distressed and puzzled !
Most halfway houses (where many go post rehab) require jobs as a condition of staying there. At least they used to. Until $$ took over the rehab industry.
There ya go, BINGO, $$, complete take over of the rehab "industry" ! Would be fascinating to find out how the present "success" rate since the health insurance industry moved into the addiction "business", compared to years ago before there were no dispensaries to "maintain" addicts, and needle exchanges, "safe" injection sites, etc. and the only alternative was to turn to AA/NA, which did not end in 30 or 60 days (when the insurance ran out), but went on for a life time). As one 25 years sober individual related to me, AA/NA is the original life long "wellness" program, no insurance needed, no cost, and can do no harm following it even to people who are not involved with addictive substances !
Hobos don’t want a structured life Dash that’s what they doing on the streets, and that’s where they want to be, and you are interfering if you try to change the vagrant mentality in any way
That is certainly true in many cases ! As I said, have a relative who also explained how that is a mental "block" that can be changed with time in some cases because it is a defense mechanism to "protect" the addiction. I agree there are those people who just don't want a structured life, but then, many of those do not just camp right on the sidewalk or in a park, some tend to do just enough unstructured work (like tree cutting, or tearing down old structures for people, etc.) to maintain a small domicile (cabin, trailer, RV) on a small patch of land, not a public park or under a bridge. And some, like you say, just prefer that same life but on public streets and alleys. But my belief is most are not the "hobo" (meaning unencumbered itinerant adventurer ) types, but are there due to the metal changes that are the result of addiction.
I have been thinking this exactly for a long time - that we can find some place where they can help themselves (with help) to become self-sufficient, learn trades (for those who are able), etc. The bigger issue is that the way things have become is part of an agenda.
Yes, while I am not sitting in on a couch saying it would be "easy", but on the other hand, I see what an organization called Tunnels to Towers is doing in my area, building an entire town for disabled veterans on donated property and volunteer help. Surely we the people, could use that basic model to build a nation wide system of such farms and ranches. But like you, I am afraid there are far to many diverse agendas making every effort a dead end ! Would "rights" groups oppose sentences that give an either or choice ? Would the established system of "treatment" centers (where they exist in the local court system) oppose the huge financial blow to them if a nation wide system of free, volunteer supported, self-supporting through crop and animal raising, and most of all SUCCESSFUL living-working centers would present ? After all, where treatment exists as an alternative for judges, it's often a "revolving door", short term, sometimes even "out patient", so they affected individual does not ever have to get completely substance free to comply. Thus, the public taxes provides a steady stream of income for centers (who maybe thorough no fault of their own due to "sentences" of 30, 60, 90, days) who really have extremely low (some say 5% when studied out 5 years) rate of success. This model of an actual working community producing products like grain, cattle, hogs, chickens, vegetables, etc. , teaching trades like a community college or trade school, welding, plumbing, electrical and carpentry work, and all long term so as self-esteem is built (you can't build self-esteem READING about it in a treatment center's group therapy sessions) as the community works and interacts. The real challenge would be to make this the main stream, not some isolated experiment by some church or social service agency. If it were just "the way things are done here", live and work village or jail, I do think we would see a downward trend in drug use, and definitely there would be no homeless living on the streets or public places, that would not be one of the choices. A dream I am sure, just as you say, way too many "agendas" !
Yes, lived in Illinois for a period of time. Most there completely deteriorated, were ravaged by opportunists who eventually went in and took copper wire, fixtures, anything useful that could be sold. Eventually, state had to completely demolish due to the deterioration and crumbling walls, no glass left in the hundreds of windows, etc. Some of those actually treated a few patients successfully, but by far only served as warehouses, some actually filthy and abusive to the forgotten patients without any family or guardians. I knew of one there, in a rural area, that actually did have a farm, all able patients did work on the farm (it was flowers and vegetables only), and some did recover. How many of those had drug problems (?) have no idea. Drug use back then was more difficult in small rural communities, so most of the patients in that particular institution were probably suffering from true mental illness, not addiction.
What ??? Maybe I misread ? There are no values to the old testament ? Guess that is why it is so easy to lead people into anything, they are so busy calling each other's religion "useless".
There are, but not the ones you're mentioning. The Old Testament is pretty cut-throat stuff. If you are a gentile, though luck, no charity for you, and even if you were not, the Old Testament is not very generous in all on this "Love Thy Neighboor" stuff.
All those ideals that you are calling Judeo-Christian came to be since the first advent, through the sacrifice of the Son of God, therefore they are essentialy Christian not "Judeo". The jewish religion specifically denies that Yeshua is the Christ, so, it is probably not in good taste to mix those different sets of values and imply that they share beliefs and values that are specifically of a Christian nature.
So, why don't you all cut cut the crap, take some license and start doing your constitutional and moral duty--clean up the mess you're pissing and moaning about, but unwilling to get up off your lazy asses to take care of what others who should be doing it, won't. People who complain, but take no direct action to resolve problems like this, lose their right to complain--it's your community--your country, for God's sake--either do something to put an end to it or just shut the fuck up...!
So, what would you like me to do? Should I go get my crow bar from the basement, go downtown and start cleaning house? Should I start busting skulls? I'd surely love to do that, but that would likely get me thrown in jail. How do you address a society that insists on suicide?
Making noise IS doing something. Silently following the herd and doing what you are told is doing nothing. People making noise, what you call complaining are much more apt to do something. Sometimes complaining is a start. I will never shut the fuck up. What is enough action that needs to be taken in order to have the right to speak? who the fuck are you to determine that? And what, prey tell, are you doing??
Hmm, per George Carlin, it’s not the politicians who suck, but, the public…
And, his campaign slogan was: the public sucks, F hope. Frankly, America is dead, the actual death of the public hasn’t caught up…yet.
People in positions of power authority and influence, if not frank control, need so relentlessly and brutally ostracized and marginalized, their gonads ache and they flee to other shores to harass, decay, and kill.
A good point, but, I believe many people, just everyday working, raising a family, etc. people, don't KNOW how to start such a clean up. I believe the only path they feel is open to them is to "complain"; to go to city council meetings, to write "letters to the editor", even to contact local TV stations. Many are even ready and WILLING to go and physically help dismantle the tents and cardboard "houses" next to their schools and in their parks, but they fear they would be looked at as a "mob", "insurrectionists" so to speak, and be fined or arrested themselves. What to do with this sea of humanity ? How to begin ? Would ultimatums even work ? Maybe ? Take those actually living in the train terminals, parks, even public libraries and present a choice: You can choose to go to one of the various state "farms" where you will have clean living (dorm like) facilities, showers, cafeterias with 3 meals a day, and you will work on the farm to grow the food, raise animals, etc. or you can choose jail (where you will also dry out from drugs including alcohol). Don't think people are ready to back such as binary, either or, choice, but living on public property anywhere would not be a choice. Would some just continue to live on the state/local "farms, ranches" for the rest of their lives... possibly. But then, many spend their entire lives in prison anyway. Don't know, just think we need to try "something" ! We are opposed to jailing addicts, but, what if we gave them a choice ? Life of working on a farm/ranch and guaranteed shelter and food (rather than subsidy checks and food stamps), or going to jail. Then those opposed to incarceration of people for the "crime" of drug use, might also be satisfied if a choice was given ?
I like the idea of making the homeless work for their free housing. I think the number is close to $1B in California alone to provide housing to homeless.
Just my two cents, but it's not really because drug addicts and hobos are given handouts. They were always given food and help. The difference is: Who's doing the giving.
When it was church and other civic groups, there was a semblance of a social contract: 'Look, we're here to help out. But, you've got to do your part. This can't be a permanent thing. You need to work on improving yourself, or else you need to shuffle on out of here.' Hence, there were hobos riding trains and constantly shuffling on, but the rest were expected to work to improve their station, sometimes with the aid of these same civic and church groups.
There are still some church and civic groups. But, the vast majority of aid given to those who are drug addicted or down on their luck is from nameless, faceless bureaucrats. There is no unspoken obligation to improve one's situation or move on. There is a belief by the bureaucrats and homeless alike that the handouts are a right or entitlement.
It's because those doing the giving are doing so with other people's money. They don't care to improve things. They simply want to patch over the problem for a little while, then make self-righteous claims about what they do with your money.
As churches die out, this from a church going Lutheran, Your scenario and I agree it is a much better one, dies with it unfortunately. The left wants to destroy the nuclear family, the church, and local communities and government. Our task has to be to fight the left whatever that might entail.
Bingo on every point. Civic, and especially religiously related organizations, always did a far far better job of helping the homeless find a better life. Bureaucrats do indeed want to just "put on a temporary patch", much like doctors who prefer to dish out the latest Rx, rather than address root causes and instruct patients on how to adjust diet, life style, etc. As for "other people's money", that old phrase never goes out of style; Elon Musk just quoted it again a day or so ago (probably in relation to old Joe's "new" scapegoat targets to direct OUR anger at him to others.. this time to get us to HATE and BLAME billionaires. That will probably be a very popular chant of the masses since most never (as usual) stop to REALLY think what that would mean (capital gains and all) to "get" those evil corporations and entrepreneurs.... everyone knows that the government could run them better anyway, agriculture, utilities, health care, manufacturing, etc. could all benefit from government running everything right.... LOL ! After all, they have never been able to draw up a workable budget in YEARS...hey, when it's "other people's money, who cares !
Funny, I wrote the original comment in this thread . . . and grew up a church-going Lutheran (grandson of a Lutheran minister, no less). What are the odds?
The AP reports Newsom is proud of his second trans appointed judge. As a lawyer I don’t care about identity; I care if they’re a fair arbiter of the law. In the same post they deride states like Utah that are protecting women’s sports. There was a time women were a protected class. Now that’s out the window for a male who is biologically a male with all the testosterone but now masquerades as a woman. No more of this nonsense. I am not as strong as a man never have been. It sucks. I do look with envy at what men can do but that’s reality. We need to step back into that space before women are erased for our unique contributions
I totally agree. However, it needs to be a two-pronged attack. We have to stop the "in your face" destruction of women's sports. But we also need to stop the insidious indoctrination (sexualization) of our children with gender ideology in the schools. Via the education system, we, as a society, are allowing the normalization, by fiat, of more and more "formerly aberrant" behaviors. My sincere question is, where does it stop?
Like you, I didn't use to care about "identity". However, when Biden appointed a queer activist involved in kink (part of the "pup community") to handle nuclear waste management at the Department of Energy, I realized they are never going to stop. There is no bridge too far. The appointee went to MIT, and is undoubtedly quite smart/capable, but does his activism and sexual proclivity belong in or have to be accepted in the workplace?
I’m not sure it stops at pedophilia being accepted as mainstream, but that is the goal of this continual nudging. When you accept absurdities, you will accept atrocities.
I agree the focus on (and even encouragement of) alternative gender identities has gotten out of control. I've seen it firsthand in my children's middle and high schools. My theory is the normal and natural hormonal fluctuations of adolescence (when kids are in the process of self-discovery) is being exploited; to what end, though, I cannot figure out. What I do know is that it's confusing the hell out of these poor kids, and causing rampant and unnecessary anxiety and depression in this age group. It's heartbreaking.
@Elizabeth- don't forget: Men look at women with envy, too. Real men, anyway. I want to hear from those women who fought for Title IX back in the 60s and early 70s until it was passed into law. We're all bombarded by those clueless young women, my granddaughter included, and girls who have had the luxury of playing sports under Title IX without even thinking about it but I'm old enough to remember those days without it. Shoot, even in the early 2000s my daughter had to threaten the athletic director of our high school because he wouldn't allow her to try out for the boys bowling team after he, without any input, got rid of the girls team. He immediately reinstated the girls team because of that threat (and yes, she was a better bowler than most of the boys). Ridiculous, the thought processes of people STILL.
House of Representatives is set to vote this week on legalizing marijuana at the federal level. Yes, the moral fabric in our country has been destroyed.
Cannabis is not the problem. The myths of it being a "gateway drug" and "causing people to be lazy & unproductive" were Nixon-era propaganda to support their failed "war on drugs." The reality is that it was/is a threat to BigPharma because of its many health and medicinal benefits without the dangerous side effects of synthetic drugs. It's interesting when one follows the money trail, it so often leads back to BigPharma. So, I would say the moral fabric of our country is being destroyed by corporate influence on government (aka fascism).
That is also part of the WEF/NWO plan to destroy the US from within. Kill its citizens and destroy the downtowns all in one swoop. All with the help of our elected representatives who are getting rich as they kill their own homeland. Ingenious.
The most startling development is our own president (accidentally ? ?) slipping and referring to we are indeed heading to the goal of a New World Order... of course he was told NOT to say that, and immediately they got busy at the WH saying he really didn't say what everyone around the world heard him say !
Yeah! Like an old dementia dog - keep on leash, away from triggers or else he will start shouting defensive stuff. As we witnessed today. So embarrassed for him. And his Handlers. Tut tut. Now worried about how Putin addresses.....
Yesterday when he was on one of his long stories about how many great Americans our country has produced, and attempted to name a couple and then (having JUST passed away the day before !) he could not remember the name of Madeline Albright and as he went into one of those strange "episodes" and finally said, "like that great lady that just DIED"... I really thought I had to have not heard that correctly, HOW CAN ANYONE do that, how must her family feel hearing a president call her "that lady that died" ? It's really beyond belief, but you know, I didn't see any fall out on that, guess that's considered proper decorum now ? "that lady that died".... I'll never get over that, he never did say her name !
I’m not embarrassed for him. I’m concerned for we American citizens. He seems like a good guy from first glance. However, peel back the onion and one realizes he severely lacks moral character and integrity, and he has terrible instincts. I pray for him, but do not like him nor the decisions he has made. His handlers I loathe- clearly terrible people.
On topic, his son was and probably still is a big druggie. It doesn’t seem like Joe nor Jill did anything to help him.
You are exactly right Vee. Many years ago I read a "Letter from the mother of a homeless addict" She begged the public and the government to STOP enabling her son's lifestyle. She said, correctly, that he would never ever hit total bottom and finally get help as long as he was being clothed and fed.
Those facts breed conservatism, which is simply putting experience and common sense to good use. Liberalism is the disregard of experience, truth and reality that interferes with their idiotic hope for different outcomes from employing the same shit every new day.
One constant is that everything they accuse anyone not with them of doing is exactly what they themselves have done or are doing. That makes those leftist simpletons very predictable.
Totally agree. I live in Miami and I'm the outlier for not wanting to bounce off the walls all day/night. Plus I live in a nice building and I'm surprised I have any brain cells left with all the second hand weed I inhale yet management and residents don't do anything. If there were consequences drug users would think more about their usage and annoying others....
I live in northern California and the stink of weed is omnipresent in public places. Cigarette smokers hide out behind buildings away from people to smoke and marijuana smokers waltz around smoking joints anywhere they please. It's bizarre.
We moved back to my hometown of Oklahoma City in august. There is now a cannabis shop in every strip. They all popped up 3-4 yrs ago after they legalized medical marijuana. We took our son to see the new Spider-Man a couple wknds ago and the entire theater smelled like weed. And vaping weed is now ubiquitous among teenagers.
I think you’re misreading what he’s saying and he’s not talking about arresting anyone.
1. Observation - Enough pot that it’s noticeably smelled in the air.
2. Observation - Ironic that cigarettes are legal and pot isn’t necessarily but culturally we are so against cigarette smoking that legal hides behind buildings and perhaps illegal pot smokers are out in the open.
This is normally a rational, savvy and generally civil group. Just sayin’.
“If there were consequences drug users would think more about their usage”
Sounds like a threat to me as a weed smoker. (&cigarette smoker)
If you spray to much perfume in the air or take a huge dump should I be worried by someone else’s sense of smell?
Long explanation, sorry;
I don’t know. I grew up in Vegas. One of the last places you could still eat breakfast and have a smoke afterwards. Upu could even go to a wendys and they’d give you an ash tray.
UNTIL Californians came in and fucked it up for everyone.
For 5 years thanks to the Californian invasion and them taking over our city we couldn’t smoke in bars that served food.
My wife was fired
The kitchen staff fired
Dish washer etc.
thousands out of jobs so a few fucks that could’ve just gone to chilis or outback to eat just wanted to dictate how they were culturally against cigarettes.
I believe if you have a bar that wants to serve smokers or a hotel or a housing community then so be it.
People who do not like it will find other places to spend their money. Why do we need the government under threat of violence to come in and tell us what to do?
Anyway I’ll
Finish my long add story
They built some Bullshit glass window that magically separated the dining from bar area and bars that could afford to make that upgrade could serve food again but many bars went under because of this.
4 years later
It’s all back to the way it was. Except now I can’t take my kids to breakfast at the bar because the “smoke”.
Guess my point is If you have a problem with a smoke filled housing development then MOVE.
There are plenty of Non smoking developments you can move to.
You don’t need to call to your authorities the same authorities that would’ve locked you up for not wearing a mask a couple months ago because someone is doing something you don’t like.
In 1910 they did not have the myriads of drugs they have now, including the drug pushing doctors for so called depression and whatever reason you want to be high. In 1910 they did not have the modern conveniences we have now such as huge grocery stores, TV, computers, washers and dryers like ours, dish washers, toasters like ours, we can go on and on with the list. Life was harder in 1910 if you did not work you did not eat, and We had world war 1, (1914) and a small depression.
People were too busy working to survive to have time for drugs. Intact families and values all glued together and resting apon religion and the belief in God. Organized relion is not perfect because it is instituted by humans and has hurt people sometimes. The solution to bad teligion is not no religion, it is good religion. Lookat two grafts showing the decline of relgious practice in this country and the decline in moral behaviour and increase in crime and they will all show similar trends.
Alabama was the first state to rescind the legal right of men to beat their wives in 1871. Massachusetts followed shortly. Wife beating was made illegal in all states of the United States by 1920.
The Bible says there would be a last days apostasy, a falling away from the (true) faith. 2 Thessalonians 2:3. Today everywhere I go there are false prophets and false apostles in the churches. Even where I live they go house to house where people meet to hear the lastest lies. There are many cults too. They grew big time in the 1800's. such as Mormonism, Seventh Day Adventist, Roman Catholicism (Vatican council 2), Darwinism, Jehovah Witnesses, Christian Science, etc....
Yes. Faith alone in Christ alone, by the word of God alone. How does one get faith? Answer: by believing the gospel ONLY. Paul says, "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received how that Christ died for our sins according TO THE SCRIPTURES: and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to THE SCRIPTURES." 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16. I fellowship with like minded. I would in no way want to do what God forbids and that is to be in false religion. That is called fornication and adultery to worship with other gods (false religion). That is why the Roman Catholic Church is called the Harlot. Not Christ's. Jesus is God~
The problem with the Lutherans they FORGOT the Reformation, and have joined again with the Roman Catholic Church (the harlot Rev. 17. It was the Reformation that gave us Bible's to read. When they were printing Bibles they were burned at the stake, and the Bible's were burned by the Roman Catholic Church. How can we forget those brave men and women who died so we could have a Bible? You want to know what the Roman Catholic Church is like when it is in control look back at the Dark Ages 600 AD-1517 Ad, and also the Crusades. I read a very good book it is called "Washington in the Lap of Rome by Justin Dewey Fulton" Forwarded by Chris Pinto. In it you can see how America forgot why our country was founded and has allowed the Jesuits in every high office in the land including the churches. One of our founding fathers John Adams said, "FROM JOHN ADAMS TO THOMAS JEFFERSON 6 May, 1816
I do not like the late resurrection of the Jesuits. They have a general now in Russia, in correspondence with the Jesuits in the United States, who are more numerous than everybody knows. Shall we not have swarms of them here, in as many shapes and disguises as ever a king of the gypsies, Bampfylde Moore Carew himself, assumed? In the shape of printers, editors, writers, schoolmasters, etc..? I have lately read Pascal’s letters over again, and four volumes of the History of the Jesuits. If ever any congregation of men could merit eternal perdition on earth and in hell, according to these historians, though, like Pascal, true Catholics, it is this company of Loyola (Loyola was the leader of the Jesuits)." Today Russia is Orthodox that is still Catholic, its the state church and the Pope believes his has authority as a successor to Peter and as an apostle. The current pope is a Jesuit!
But the drug store would make you a coke soda (yup with cocaine in those days) to perk you up and clear up that flu. Coke syrup was still being sold OTC into the Eighties, without the coca, and only the older folk ordered it. Opium mixed with clay was a proven intestinal remedy. They did not have the myriads of drugs back then, but the few they had were valued, and there were more home remedies in those days.
“A century ago, scientists at a German pharmaceutical firm investigated a chemical modification to morphine that made it more palatable as a cough suppressant.”
“The Bayer Co., predecessor to today’s pharmaceutical giant, marketed its popular new remedy as “Heroin.” Although it worked against coughs caused by serious and then-common diseases such as tuberculosis and pneumonia, physicians and pharmacists soon noticed an unhappy side effect.”
“Patients required ever larger doses and were becoming increasingly dependent on the elixir. By 1912 it had emerged as a recreational drug among young men in New York City. Two years later, addicts were knocking at the doors of New York and Philadelphia hospitals in search of treatment.”
“From 1898 through to 1910, diamorphine was marketed under the trademark name Heroin as a non-addictive morphine substitute and cough suppressant. In the 11th edition of Encyclopædia Britannica (1910), the article on morphine states:
"In the cough of phthisis minute doses [of morphine] are of service, but in this particular disease morphine is frequently better replaced by codeine or by heroin, which checks irritable coughs without the narcotism following upon the administration of morphine."
In the US, the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act was passed in 1914 to control the sale and distribution of diacetylmorphine and other opioids, which allowed the drug to be prescribed and sold for medical purposes.
In 1924, the United States Congress banned its sale, importation, or manufacture. It is now a Schedule I substance, which makes it illegal for non-medical use in signatory nations of the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs treaty, including the United States.”
You seriously need to do far far more research 🧐 🔬 instead of trying to prop up, the usage of such an evil horrible drug that has killed untold thousands of people. It has wrecked thousands and thousands of families.
Like so many drugs, just like the horrible passage of this horse-shit called “ medical marijuana.” sure it may relieve certain pain feelings and it’s because you’re high as a kite. Traded one addiction, for another.
Poppies. Worn on the lapel every 11/11. My old vet's father grabbed the first bottle of penicillin off the line in NJ, Bayer. My vet was so proud. He brought my Newfound back from the dead, twice, how can I judge him. He was wonderful in crises.
Your comment, makes zero sense to me. Poppies worn on a lapel??? What!!!
“ my old vet father grabbed the first bottle of penicillin off the line in New Jersey Bayer” ????!?!?!!!! What in the hell is this??? Are you saying your father was a veterinarian or a veteran???? and what was he doing, standing on the manufacturing line owned by Bayer pharmaceuticals????!!!! Then you say he brought your Newfound back from the dead. NEW FOUND WHAT!!!!!!??????, He was wonderful in a crisis????
Jesus Christ guy you’re either stoned out of your mind, or crazy, or talking in some kind of code. Either way your an idiot.
Sorry about the cryptic post - I am an idiot on occasion. Poppies are harvested for opium, processed into heroin. There is an irony that the poppy is worn on the lapel in memory of fallen heroes, while a lot of Vietnam Vets went on to become heroin addicts. My old veterinarian who twice brought my Newfoundland dog (again my apologies) back from death's door, loved to tell the story of how his own father (who worked at Bayer during WWII when there was a big push to develop large quantities of easily transportable penicillin) obtained the first vial off the production line and brought it home. My comment made perfect sense to me, but I admit it was mental shorthand. And I am not a guy.
Poppies were worn on lapels in rememberance of Armistice Day (what we now call Veterans Day) 11/11/1918. I remember some charity giving (or selling) poppy lapel pins when I was a kid.
Absolutely. I believe you provide people with the information to allow them to make their own choices( just like vax informed consent). Some may chose to take the risks. Politicians incentivise by providing free needles, food, to keep the " lifestyle" supported. It's not a drug problem but a enabling problem. If someone steals to support this choice, then they need prison time. People like Hawkins could afford their choice and chose to take it to the limit-- death. You can't legislate behavior.
You’re so wrong about that. Look up San Francisco (where I assume you are) and the Barbary Coast. Drug use has resulted in the same misery for hundreds of years.
Sigmund Freud introduced cocaine into our daily routines - Coca-Cola, different wines, cigars, At the turn of the 20th century. Presidents drank the wine and smoked the cigars Aand everyone was cool with it. Freud was convinced that our military would be super efficient on cocaine – they wouldn’t need to sleep, they wouldn’t need to eat, and they would have an endless energy supply
Yeah 1910. Wonderful if you were a christian white male. My point being - you did not welcome others who were different but yet hardworking, you did not welcome differences of opinion. Enjoy your heroin. The gang chains now own the homes to your left and right. All the meth heads and junkies I know are white, christian, male and female. So good to be better than everyone else? You were born into freedom and took advantage of that. Incentives you might have missed in your imperialistic goggles.
If you could back this argument with any proof that would be great. You have no clue what went on in 1910. To say only white Christian males prospered us a ridiculous stereotype. That only white people are addicts is even more absurd. Not sure where your from, but come to my hometown and I’ll show you addicts of all colors and nationalities.
Pre-WWI were not good times for many. Women only got the right to vote in 1920, but only white women. Black women would not get to vote until 1965, after the Civil Rights Act. Up to that time, non-whites were segregated and discriminated against, unable to quality for mortgages, and lynched for no reason, pretty common knowledge. Jewish immigrants were marginalized, stereotyped, mistrusted and subject to overt antisemitism. Research the lynching of Leo Frank. Jews were not allowed to hold public office in NH until 1928. So yes - 1910 was a great time only if you were a white christian male. Drug abuse has soared in the white population in the past 20 years, which is why it is only now recognized as an "epidemic" and a "problem". Here's a good article with demographics: https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/3/23/14987892/opioid-heroin-epidemic-charts.
Just an aside here: Using vox to back up any argument or position is a losing strategy. Just saying.
I'll take one step further and add that giving women the vote - black or white - is arguably one of the contributors to our crumbling culture and social order.
Before the modern drug laws, it was estimated that 25% of Americans were addicted -- especially to opium, which was in everything. You want Jamaica; we had Jamaica.
How many addicts we now have and how many are dying from unregulated street drugs? Government is not the answer but responsibility is. The market will never leave us, so why are we farming it out not allowing corporations inside this country to distribute it with legal responsibility? We have laws against behavior that affects society, DUI, etc, but why laws to protect us from ourselves? When will they start protecting me from sugar consumption, risky behavior like rock climbing, sky diving, irresponsible sex on the back seat of my car? Ruining my kids lives by sending them to public schools.
Oh stop, "responsibility is" you are assuming everyone has self discipline, and everyone can deal with emotional/physical pain - addict's destroy families not only themselves. You are incredibly naive.
What ever it is you have to be able to define addict. It has certainly increased since 15 days to slow the spread ( possibly doubled ) Most people believe that addicts are those hopeless individuals that are in tents on the streets. I would argue that's the tip of the iceberg. 1-2 million who truely need intervention and help. 40-60 million high functioning who are on the slow lane to a highway to hell. We have 1000s of things we can be addicted to. Don't ask me how I know.
I don't think it should be hard to create a system where doing drugs is legal, but robbing people or shitting on the street is not. You're never going to save someone when you care more about their wellbeing than they do.
Seems easy enough. I was always libertarian on drug use, but I’ve come to realize in this country it’s impossible. The state will ultimately be required to care for these people and there addiction. Like everything it becomes a public crisis, and the do-gooders in government need to have solutions. Solutions that only compound the problem by design. Thus you need more government to correct the problems they created. Soon you have entire beuracracies created, full of the usual corruption and cronyism as everything else in this country. Now the actual addict becomes just a prop in a government created money scheme that exists simply for its ability to enrich and create livelihoods for people that create absolutely nothing.
Not to be totally heartless, but if the issue is drug use, you can just drive people out to the middle of nowhere and tell them good luck. No jail but also you're also not encouraging the issue. If they want to come back to the city or town, they can, but if they don't clean up, they'll face the same situation over and over. The person has the opportunity at any point to turn it around without having to pay significantly for past sins.
When I was teaching, I used to tell myself all the time when I encountered apathetic students who would not respond to any kind of motivational effort on my part - "you can't care more about this student's education than they do".
This exact thought used to be in my head in the ER at 2am - "Of the two of us, the doctor (me) and the patient (you), why do I seem to be the only one who cares about your health?"
Okay. I’m just going to have to take a nap. What JH and The Beach is My Bliss and now you, Fla Mom, have said…..well, I’m just going to have to do all your pearls of wisdom up on a pillow in needle point.
Well, you’re blowing me away as well. I’m always a day late and a dollar short…….your students obviously had a pearl in you. I’m now going to go sit on a stump and contemplate…..something……..
OMG!, Did you just think of that 2nd sentence…..Did you just coin a saying? It’s so perfect……it’s making my brain hurt because it’s so profound in Its simplicity. Thank you for that.
Ah Denise, do you truly have nothing better to do on a Saturday night than choose 4 or 5 responses with thoughtful reply, and add your own sad insulting retorts? Are you really hurting that much that you have to try and hurt others?
Not sure I agree with this. I'd argue that the caring and compassion of others has been shown to pull people out of their state of apathy, and even saved their lives (eg, from suicide and/or overdose).
Remove jail from that list, as it has proven counterproductive for drug users. Rehab and/or mental health therapy are the only solutions. Yet somehow, governments refuse to spend money on those. Go figure.
The addicted must want out. Here is thee conundrum: Deeply addicted folks are literal slaves to their addictions and cannot think of anything except what they have to do, beg or steal, to get their next fix. Their primary purpose is to score and cop. A 7 Day medical detox will provide the first layer of separation from the streets and drugs. At this point, they have to make a decision. “Do you want to make the change? Do you want to live free of this horrible existence? Are you Willing to fight for your life”? And make no mistake about it our fellow citizens are fighting for their lives. What if it were your child? Your brother? Your sister? Your Mom or Dad? What if it were you? You who got hooked on a pain med after a car crash? I am no bleeding heart but I know this much, I will do what I can to help others until they can help themselves as long as they are honest about wanting out.
I will fight to the death to wipe out drug dealers and lend a hand to the drunk or addict in the street.
We can do better than make more poison legal and just fire up the addiction and the certain follow on rip roaring crime wave.
Purdue Pharma can never proportionally repay for the full harm they and others unleashed but they have been made to pay via civil due process. Criminals wantonly selling drugs are outliers for whom I hold no mercy.
While Pharma has somewhat "paid", opioids are still somehow being prescribed outside hospital settings. Until that practice ends, the problem won't end. As to street dealers, consider the ways in which the system has contributed to this problem (ie, racial, socioeconomic, and now vax-status discrimination, etc), preventing certain segments of society from obtaining living-wage work. This issue is very complex.
It's as much because our current mental health repair tools are actually pretty useless and rubbish.
I am also mindful that many of the homeless addicts are suffering mental health issues as a result of being sent to fight wars that do nothing but enrich the political class.
"Computer says No" bureaucracy creates cracks a mile wide for the vulnerable to fall through rather than receiving any meaningful help.
Alas the physical brain damage caused by drug addiction can push many past the point where they are salvageable even if they do want to quit.
The problem is those who are addicted to power and control such as prohibitionists and others who oppose the principle of individual rights, the principle upon which this country was founded. Rick aka Freedom_First(at)verizon(dot)net
I don't hear "individual responsibility" or "civil society" as part of that equation. If people have the individual right to be drug addicts and alcoholics and to make themselves sick and disgusting and unfit for work or good neighborliness, then people who don't live that kind of life have the individual right to not subsidize them and not tolerate their presence in well-groomed and orderly neighborhoods.
You've nailed it. If they want to exercise their right to be a worthless piece of shit, see how long they can live when cut off from all subsidies and are incarcerated for the crimes they commit.
Yes, as things stand there is every incentive for them to continue. I myself was once, regretfully, involved in coddling an addict right to death. Thinking every lifeline would be the one they used to climb up and out, when everything was just another stepping stone to the next binge.
This is laughably ignorant. Hate to break it to you, but Rush Limbaugh lived in a well-groomed, orderly neighborhood. So did Prince. Michael Jackson. Philip Seymour Hoffman. Winston Churchill. Ernest Hemingway. Sigmund Freud. Tiger Woods. John Fitzgerald Kennedy. ALL addicts. The presence of addiction in well-groomed, orderly neighborhoods is at least as common as it is in the streets.
Addiction cuts across all demographics, it’s an equal opportunity destroyer of lives and of families, and I’m guessing we’ve got a ticking time-bomb on our hands, as the psychological toll from the isolation generated by the pandemic has almost certainly increased relapses while minting new addicts.
Lastly, addicts don’t have a desire to be addicts, nor is it an achievement to which anyone has ever aspired. An addict who is high will tell you he wants to get better, and plans to start tomorrow. Tomorrow hits and when the w/ds kick in, that thought goes out the window, and now the ONLY thing in the addicts’ life is getting what is needed to feel normal again. It’s not a moral character issue.
Thank you for providing that much-needed perspective to this (sadly) myopic comment thread. I find it interesting how a group of people (ie these subscribers to Alex B) have been able to see through the covid propaganda, yet haven't seen through the "drug war" propaganda.
The list of notables in your first paragraph do not present a societal problem. They're not shitting in the streets, panhandling, robbing people, etc., and they had or have the means to maintain themselves in their addictions. (Certainly cavalier medical and pharma malpractice that led some of them to a state of addiction should be addressed as legislative or criminal matters, but that's a different discussion.)
When gateway drug and alcohol use is considered no big deal or a right, then guess what? A lot of kids and young adults and old farts will choose to use them rather than deal with shyness or loneliness or anxiety or voices in their heads or whatever. And they don't have the means to maintain themselves in their addictions. And when they become addicted and receive "safe" drug-use packages from the government and no-questions-asked monthly allowance and a tent from the enablers, and an occasional 2-week (useless) or 4-week (equally useless) stay in a rehab facility without the need to change anything in their behavior, they ARE a societal problem.
You say nobody wants to be an addict or a drunk. Well nobody wants to be held hostage by addicts or drunks.
As one from a family comprised of both, the ones who overcame did so with abstinence, tough love, and the desire to keep whatever good they had in their lives. The ones who did not overcome could not be helped no matter how much help they received.
This argument presumes addiction is a choice. Sure, the person had the choice to never try the drug(s) to begin with, but consider the reason(s) they did. What was going on in their life at the time? What personal demons were they fighting? What traumas had they endured? Etc. Point being, as is the case with most everything, it's a complex issue, for which there is no simple solution.
I agree 100% that everyone has a right to not subsidize others. I don't know what you mean by "not tolerate their presence". I don't tolerate anyone who advocates the use of violence against peaceful human beings who have never harmed anyone which includes all drug fighters and illegalizers.
"Because none of them work." - That's a pretty absolutist and defeatist statement. While it's true rehab/therapy doesn't work for some, it absolutely does work for others. If it didn't, it would no longer exist.
I'd say labor camps in rural areas are better than jail and the touchy feely BS rehab places. Put them to work, teach them a marketable skill and they might have a chance.
I get your point, but I wouldn't call them "labor camps," as that conjures up images of internment camps, which haven't gone over well historically. ;)
Rehab is a joke. Rehab does not work. Rehab? Pointless. The only recourse? Villages of storage unit construction 20 miles from the nearest town. Rehab does not work. Those who think it does are beating a dead horse. For god sake give the mentality ill and addicts help if they comply. Otherwise remove them and give them ...Free food. Free daily "meds"... if... they do 2 to 3 hours of work cleaning the kitchen or showers. They can not be helped ... our society has tried over and over but nothing works. ... we can continue to pretend to help ... to keep people from objecting....just keep the homeless out of towns and cities. Out... gone... 👀 look
...we work hard. We pay the taxes to have nice cities. Tolerance is fine. But not in our cities. What is happening now guarantees votes get shoveled to the right wing. Liberals must see the common sense of these remote villages. The alternative? Blue states that vote red. Proof? DeSantis will win the next election. It's a shoe in. Homeless and gender confused swimmers will win this for DeSantis. The homeless situation has gone on too long.... it has people fed up
It's not just homeless and gender confused swimmers that guarantee a win for DeSantis. The left - in one short year in power - has driven our country into the ground. The speed of their accomplishments is mind boggling. People have had enough.
It didn't take a year. It took a century of hard work done under the radar. It's just that when the end comes It comes like falling asleep, or falling in love: slowly, then all at once.
" ... I include in the RECORD, under unanimous consent, the following "Current Communist Goals,"
which she identifies as an excerpt from "The Naked Communist," by Cleon Skousen:
22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was
told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."
23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art."
24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.
25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion
pictures, radio, and TV.
26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, and healthy."
27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for
intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."
28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of
"separation of church and state." (Remember these goals were published to expose them in 1958) Coincidence?
29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to
cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.
30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man."
31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a
minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.
32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture--education, social agencies,
welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.
38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric
disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand [or treat].
39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who
oppose Communist goals.
40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.
41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and
retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.
42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and
special-interest groups should rise up and use ["] united force ["] to solve economic, political or social problems.
<<<<< I do believe they've succeeded in all the above areas >>>>>
- and then there's Gramsci's long march through the institutions. Check.
- Margaret Sanger's eugenicist policies, alive and well in planned parenthood clinics, conveniently placed in the poorest communities. Check.
- The literal wiping out of history combined with teaching that America is "bad". Check.
I agree, we are at the "all at once" part of the equation. I saw it coming but I know very few who did or even cared enough to take a look at the big picture.
Oh geese that's what I was afraid of. Knee jerk Fox 🦊 "news" reactions to what I wrote is going to guarantee the failure if the right wing. Look at the next comment upon. Blather about stolen ejections. Biden is nothing to write home about but he certainly did not run the nation into the ground. Trump did that all on his own. A fool has fools for followers. Can't tell reality from fantasy. Typical.
Give Biden time. It's only been a year. And based on his current trajectory, it's not looking good for him (despite how much the Left tries to backpedal before midterms).
All talk, no action--mentally, even emotionally, you and "people" you mention may have "had enough," but not the physical--until then, keep bloviating, you're reaching a dead country...
Rehab by court order or drug court agreement is only 30 days when at least 6 months is needed. Insurance usually only covers 30 days. My father-in-law ran a program in Boston in the 70s & 80s and my husband always says how hitting bottom is necessary along with intention to succeed along with support to STAY in the program for months. Too many ppl use the system and court-ordered 30-day rehabs as a weigh station. They call it “spin dry.” They go in as a last resort or as a respite from getting fired, repo’ed , child support, evictions, etc, then they come back out and use again as they never had the intention to stop.
More than the homeless situation having people fed up, I'd say it was the useless and harmful covid "mitigation" measures... and the bungled Afghanistan withdrawal (yes, we needed to withdraw, but not in that manner)... and the rampant censorship of opposing viewpoints... and the creeping totalitarianism (digital IDs, centralized digital currency, Google/Apple/Microsoft/Amazon spying)... and higher gas prices (due to Biden's sanctions on Russia - which are hurting Americans more than Russians)... and his refusal to negotiate a peace deal with Putin (because a prolonged war means more $$$ for the MIC)... and the Hunter laptop fiasco. For these reasons (and more), Congress will flip to red in the midterms, and the Oval will flip to red in 2024.
I absolutely believe the Democrat's election cheating machine was in full force during the last election and I have no reason to believe it won't be again for the midterms and the '24 election. If it were a fair election with an accurate and truthful vote count, I think we'd see numbers that would leave no doubts in anyone's mind that the supposed 81 million votes for Biden were pure fiction.
I don't believe we will ever see a fair and honest election again in my lifetime.
I agree. And I go back and forth on this because I also believe both of W. Bush's elections were rigged, but I don't believe Trump's 2016 was (or else Hillary would've "won"). Sometimes I think the whole election system is a farce, other times I think it's legit. But I keep voting anyway, just in case. ;)
Lol, the typical drug user does rehab 7 or 8 times before they finally kill themselves anyway. Look it up. Rehab is just a pricey pit stop. For extra credit, look up how very profitable those rehab centers are and the (real, not PR) stats on how "successful" their programs really are. The only thing that will save a user, is the user themselves. Many are called, few have chosen.
Well, "professionals" never have concious or unconscious detrimental or self-serving agendas, mental problems of their own, are never drunk on power or just plain incompetent or out for themselves or anything like that! Heck, that "professional" six year sit on your ass and parrot back Degree in Whatever makes them damn near infallible! That degree that grants them total control and power over the lives of anyone that happens to fall under the scope of their uber knowledgeable beneficence - what could go wrong? "Mental health "professionals" are so caring and impressive that they generally have armies of minimum wage slaves beneath them that actually do the gritty, real stuff involved in corralling and directing and "helping" their charges and most importantly- RECORDING AND DOCUMENTING THE QUITE OFTEN BOGUS, HOWEVER MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF BILLIABLE HOURS involved in "caring for others." And that's just my very brief intro to your question.The mental health system is beyond imperfect, it's exploitive to the max.
Sure, not all therapists are saintly, but dismissing them all for the bad deeds of a few is throwing the baby out with the bathwater. It sounds like you've personally been victimized by one (or more), but I can personally attest to the fact there are good ones out there.
What world do you live in where your “typical drug user” can afford rehab. Get your head out of the clouds. Your “typical drug user” gets locked up in prison for non violent crimes.
True TeeJae. Addiction is finally being accepted as a mental health issue, rather than a straight up crime. AA (a 12 step Christian program) had benefited tens of thousands. It may not work for everyone, but it works. Mercy and forgiveness go a long way in helping those who need and want help. But you have to want the help. And sometimes that means hitting rock bottom.
It's well-established that addiction is a symptom of loneliness, and little else. It's not a mental health issue, or a crime. The cure for addiction is community, and community grows when compassion fuels empathy.
Not true. Please provide citations. Addiction is an end to paths from abuse, self-soothing, lack of compassion. In fact - when community declines, addiction inclines. Loneliness was Jesus in the desert. Please do not equate loneliness with mental health issues, because you need to put them in a tidy box.
I would agree loneliness is a factor, but not the primary one. While community and compassion are indeed helpful, I've seen with my own sister-in-law (who suffers from a severe lack of self-worth/esteem because of childhood trauma), all the love in the world makes no difference if the addict does not love themself. That IS, in fact, a mental health issue. Moreover, the "cure" must also include overcoming the physical withdrawal symptoms (depending on the drug).
Do you have any evidence to back that up other than personal feelings? The threat of losing a good job got me to straighten up, now 37 years clean and sober.
People make these grand statements that sound good but just aren't true. Punishment (or threat thereof) absolutely does lead some to clean up their act. It may not be the best method, but saying it flat out just does not work is ridiculous.
While were at it, making a blanket pronouncement that it's a "mental health issue" is absurd. It may be for some, but many just swore it off one day and have been sober ever since. Try that with schizophrenia.
Amen. My ex is an alcoholic. My son has schizophrenia. I have seen both in action. Alkies and druggies have a choice which involves pain and they refuse to suffer and will gladly bring the world down with them.
Jeff - your story is my older sister's story. Same scenario. Except she's 42 years sober. My other sister, who had a revolving door through rehab and inpatient treatment, fully paid and never denied, never stayed sober a minute after discharge. Finally, in her mid-fifties, she was diagnosed with something that responded to a drug used for schizophrenia, and she stopped drinking. Unfortunately, her broken body died at age 61.
These are completely different situations and outcomes, even though these are sisters. You are absolutely correct: "making a blanket pronouncement that it's a "mental health issue" is absurd. It may be for some, but many just swore it off one day and have been sober ever since."
Obviously I can't speak for all, but in my case I believe it's a genetic predisposition coupled with a moral failing. Alcoholism runs rampant through my family as it does for many addicts. But even more so, I have never met an active addict that did not think he/she was the center of the universe (self included). That's what I mean by a moral failing.
If one has any spent any time with an active addict, more than likely they will find the addict an ammoral scuzball. Lying is second nature, cheating and stealing aren't far behind. The more someone shows love and compassion to an addict, the more that person is likely to be victimized by them. There is a selfishness that is hard to describe as it's so extreme. The addict and his/her needs are the center of the universe, no one else matters. Ego is off the charts, while paradoxically at the same time self-esteem is in the toilet. (Speaking from experience here.)
That's why AA and the twelve steps works. The whole point of the steps is to break that selfish moral failure, and for the addict to realize there is a power greater than them (God) that they are accountable to. At the same time, the addict also comes to realize that they aren't a worthless piece of crap, but that they are loved. It's a complete change of outlook from being an egotistical, entitled loser, to being a humble, grateful winner (metaphorically speaking). Maybe you can call that "mental health" but I don't, it's more of a radical change in thinking and perspective.
Something though, needs to prompt the addict to longer want to live like this. Like I said, for me it was a potential job loss (threat of punishment). But while I attended AA I came to realize that what they were saying made an awful lot of sense. I also came to realize that it's pretty much exactly what the bible teaches.
If mental health issues were not at the root of your sisters' addictions, what was? Being "cured" by a schizophrenia drug sounds like a mental health issue to me.
Congrats on your 37 years, but unlike you, many addicts have lost their jobs (and/or families), so that "threat of punishment" obviously did not work for them. Punishment can be a bandaid/temporary fix to change some behavior, but it doesn't resolve the underlying root cause. It's Behavioral Psychology 101. One blatant example is the prison recidivism rate (for both addicts and other criminals).
Behavioral psychology, aka behavior modification is in large part part of the reason we find ourself as a culture in serious trouble. It's behind the whole "everyone deserves a trophy" BS ...and so much more. Punishment for bad behavior is much more effective when seeking to modify behavior, despite what contemporary psychology tells us.
I disagree. It's a personal choice issue. "It's not their fault. They have mental health issues." is also not working and people are getting rich who own "treatment facilities." Some people do become addicted due to mental issues but personal choice trumps victimhood
Recognized by what authority? ...and why do grant them legitimacy with this claim? Further, what about that claim by the psychiatric community *authorities* that addiction was a psychological condition? What's happened to that declaration? And why the shift? What happens when the current "disease declaration" is declared no longer valid? I caution you to be judicious when granting authority to so-called "experts" when it is clear nothing is written in stone, or necessarily valid.
The recidivism rate for drug addiction is off the charts. Alcoholism too. Incentives like prison are necessary unfortunately. Gone is shame which is also a motivating deterrent.
I too had a libertarian view when I was in my 20’s, but I had an alcoholic husband for 8 years (who had done drugs in his teens) and a father in the the government in vocational rehabilitation. My father worked with drug and rehab professionals and they tell you that not all people who smoke pot move to hard drugs, but nearly all narcotics addicts start as pot users.
What we have is a society suffering from ennui. A crisis of meaning. Ennui is a soul sucking boredom and lack of purpose brought on by modern life. No father in Heaven, no hope for the future.
Whatever you want to call it, ennui or otherwise, what we have is a society of dysfunctional people raising dysfunctional children. We are producing broken people who turn to drugs as a way to escape, not the other way around. The dysfunction is the result of the nanny state (big government) assuming the place of parents and the responsibility of parents in society. Your Libertarian instincts in your youth were correct, but you've exchanged the virtues of individual liberty and self reliance (these things are inseparable) for excuses to escape the consequences of your own choices in life, I'm afraid.
Yes, being a free people, we must understand that to have rights one must accept the responsibility of self governance. Our nation of the USA was founded upon the Protestant ethics of self governance. Without a moral people our republic fails. I think John Adams said something to that effect.
Hence the axiom that freedom is not free. Neocons like Berenson have long mistaken that sentiment to be a call to military or government action. That is not and never was what it was supposed to mean. It means that there is a price to freedom. That price is personal accountability and responsibility (self reliance). You cannot have one without the other. We may choose to fight for freedom against an oppressor, but of course, these days the oppressors at our doorsteps are our own politicians and fellow citizens, not foreign governments.
That's not what happened. Thousands of people are not living in tents because the drug laws weren't stiff enough. They are living in tents and continuing a life of addiction because they have been incentivized by the state or city government to do so with free food and other subsidies. Most of the people now living in those tents didn't start out in that place, they migrated to it because of the government handouts and incentives to do so.
Not only subsidies, but just the complete unwillingness to punish vagrants that camp on streets sleeping in there own piss and shit. Surrounded by there trash and throwing used needles all over the place. The absurdity of having vagrants camping in front of stores that hard working people are forced to follow a million restrictions, pay all kinds of taxes just to operate them, would be laughable if it wasn’t so sad. Some government flunky can come in a business and fine or even shut the business down for the most minuscule deviations to there rules. Meanwhile, these bums just build shanty towns right on there sidewalks, no inspections, no permits. No fees or taxes owed. It’s a joke.
Yep, and what's even crazier is that in those places, most of those business owners vote for leftists who support that shit. It's hard to feel too sorry for them as they get the government they effectively endorse.
Yeah, sadly - the left especially- people think that empathy is how they prove they are a good person. And the way they make themselves feel good and worthwhile is by ultimately enabling the destructive behavior of others.
Yes. And it is quite possible to be empathetic about anothers pain without "helping" them to stay stuck in it. It is hard and uncomfortable just to be "with" someone as they do the struggling they have to do in order to move through a bad place. It is too easy and selfish just to throw a bandaid on it and think you have solved the problem when in fact you just prolonged it. People need to start thinking beyond slogans and sound bites again
I was at a cocktail party with Newt Gingrich in 94’ when he was speaker of the house…… he told the small gathering (25 people) that Americans don’t want to stop the drug flow- because we could eliminate it overnight if we had the political willpower. Hang drug dealers on the border anyone caught with a commercial amount of drugs on their person would be hanged immediately. Overnight you would see the end of the drug trade……..
Americans would rather talk about enforcement - which is why we have a drug problem and Thailand does not…..
Politicians know that Americans are not willing to do what is necessary to stop drugs being smuggled and as a result 100,000+ Americans a year are needlessly killed by drugs..
Zooming out to an even broader perspective, one can see all the levels of the INjustice system that financially benefit from the “war on drugs.” From the cops on the street, to the lawyers, bail bondsmen, judges and private prisons, the corruption knows no bounds. Between that and the fact that many of the Elites themselves partake, the govt will never find the “political will” to legalize drugs.
Thailand has a terrible drug problem. Yaa-baa (amphetamine) is endemic.
The dealers face harsh punishment. The importers face death. The users face kind and loving rehabilitation, as the users are treated as the victims of a public health problem.
It's not like the Fentanyl problem in the US, but it's been a serious problem for decades.
When I first moved to Thailand in 2001, then Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, was having a war on drugs. The King had instructed the Kingdom be drug free by his next birthday.
So, open warfare in the streets. Over 3,500 died. Every night on the news, a Honda Civic riddled with holes, pills in the boot (trunk) and blokes splayed out on the ground, also riddled with holes, a conveniently placed handgun a foot from the dead man's hand.
Then a kid got caught in the crossfire and it ceased.
Years later, recreational divers found shipping containers full of human remains off the coast at Sattahip (there's a naval base there) and it's suspected these were the people who disappeared during this campaign.
My brother-in-law's a victim of this stuff. He was a bright kid at school. He's now a zombie who can barely speak, rarely does. He's also quite dangerous. He has a tattoo along his hairline on his forehead, written in Khmer.
Which is the problem of history and the lesson that is never learned. Government force always results in the opposite of its intended outcome over time. Killing those on the supply side doesn't solve the problem on the demand side. Something or someone is always going to fill the void. People like to pretend they're capable of solving problems with their "will" when they can't even identify the root cause accurately. Just fighting fires while they're feeding the flames. So damn much of that nonsense on both sides of the aisle because at the end of the day both sides aren't actually committed to liberty, they're committed to imposing their way on the masses.
Sounds like the authoritarian Newt. Actually, if neocons like Newt had the political willpower to end the welfare and warfare state, we could end this problem, though it wouldn't be overnight thanks to the carnage Newt style big government as wrought over the last half century or more.
Using bogeyman words like authoritarian and neocon really does nothing to undercut the point that Americans don't have the political willpower or that hangings would stop the behavior. The man does have a point.
When one endorses hangings for those engaging in illegal commerce, commerce only the government is allowed to engage in of course, words like authoritarian and neocon are apt descriptors, not bogeyman words.
They're not that beautiful. Sure, they're very green....thanks to endless gloomy and rainy days. But sure, when the sun is shinning, which is a minority of the time, the natural landscape sure can be pretty. Lots of other places in the country are very naturally beautiful too, without all the gray.....or Democrats.
I like the rainy days... but the liberal policies are making us look elsewhere. It's shocking how much power the governor had over us because of Covid.
True and I agree for state involvement has always been the problem issue with my perspective. However, it seems to be a better road then we are now on. 🤷♂️ I did say we need to think - brainstorm - a better option than we currently provide. Prison and tents funded by tax payers and provided by greedy government officials who scrap theirs of the top can not be the best way to deal.
Yeah, that's what's called regulatory capture but it's also different. That's government basically picking winners and losers in the business marketplace and erecting barriers to competition, but at least those businesses still provide some productive value and ultimately contribute more to the coffers than they take.
The welfare state is largely the single mother state, where the government has replaced the father in the home, thereby destroying the nuclear family and creating a bunch of dysfunctional people who are dependent on government which secures and grows their political power. That dysfunction is then largely responsible for the ever growing drug problems because broken people look for ways to escape their realities rather than pursue goals that are personally fulfilling and that ultimately benefit society.
Fellow Oregonian. The law you’re describing went into effect only a year ago, and what rice described has existed for more than a decade. The “thousands of people now living in tents” you have described is Portland, which I constantly have to remind people from Portland is not all of Oregon.
Decriminalization alone will never be our countries best fit for what is a current state of drug use. Having spent much of life hiding as criminals, people will like go to where there is a less likeliness of arrest and herding off to lock up. Instead of using the tons and tons and tons of funds taken from us under the bullshit banner of fighting drug use and attempting to rake in more wasted money under taxation, our government could provide a better answer. Yet we are stuck without a progressive thought and stuck in the Nixon era beginning of druggies are criminals. From one administration to the next, it’s never changed. Get the federal government out could be a positive first step and try to help people live and not push them into cardboard boxes or concrete cells an additional. Use something God gave us, an ability to think, outside the same old dumbass proverbial box. This country has fallen into a never ending sheeple line. Not persecute is another answer. Instead of building mansion for politicians, try housing for people; instead of sending non skilled labor jobs over seas, incentivize companies here to hire people without a bullshit drug test. Everything is currently wrong.
In states where it is completely legal, the problems of drug addiction are the worse. What point are you trying to make? I lived near Portland and saw the city turn into a shit hole over the course of several years.
I think my point should be there: use all the wasted tax money to set up rehabs-housing-labor jobs and stop what is going on. And, be open to coming up with stuff better than jail.
This: "I think my point should be there: use all the wasted tax money to set up rehabs-housing-labor jobs and stop what is going on." ....is pie in the sky, unicorn farts and rainbows thinking. At the very least, if we want big daddy government to step in then they should all be quarantined separate and apart from society until they can clean up and live among people who aren't fuckups. How's that for out of the box thinking?
This is pie in the sky thinking. They are beginning to do what you say in California. Building places at 500k-A million a housing unit. You think this will help 1 homeless addict??? Your crazy. It’s just another con that will make developers rich off of taxpayer subsidies. It will empower beauracrats. Meanwhile the actual junkies will be used as props in this money game.
Are you referring to the project in San Fran? It's my understanding that rehab and (eventually) getting a job are requirements in order to keep the apartment. Since this is a new strategy, it's impossible to know the ultimate outcome, but it would be nice to see it succeed.
it actually would not be nice if it suceeds. Why should homeless junkies be given the keys to apartments that many of the working people around them cant afford, yet have to subsidize. I can appreciate your rosy outlook, youre obviously an optimist. But I will bet you that it is a scam that will fail to achieve its objective. Junkies can not be helped unless they want to get help. A shiney new building is just putting lipstick on a turd. I live in Broward county Florida, they are constantly building section 8 apartments for the "poor". Like an earlier person said they all turn to shitholes within a few years. I dont have pictures, because why would I take a picture of a shithole apartment complex, so believe me or dont believe me.
It is very possible to know the outcome. In my town a beautiful new set of apartment buildings went up, promoted as the be-all end-all in tackling the homeless/druggie problem/population. Less that 5 years later the place is a shit hole, with broken windows, graffiti on every exposed surface, trash on the ground, and a complete eyesore. A place to detour around --- especially at night.
I live just outside Boston (MA's been 100% legal for a few years now), and have seen no such thing. The myth that ease of availability leads to addiction is propaganda from the Nixon era, and was debunked long ago.
All of your suggested "solutions" have already been tried in progressive West Coast cities. All have not only failed, they have made the problem demonstrably worse.
The problems are far too complex for a simple "give them money and housing" response. Far from thinking outside the box, "just give everyone everything and let them do what they want" is the liberal response to every problem. It is the solution to none of the problems.
So most of the comments here seems to avoid my point about sheeple thinking and following the current way of locking people up. Is this the fit we should live with - Lock Them Up.
Nixon era reference is not bullshit - classifying pot as a drug like heroin is bullshit. And why should you or anyone care what I put in my body? Why should I be forced to pay for policing people harming themselves? A victimless crime is more than a cliche’. Using our wasted tax money to contain these people and allow them to harm themselves yet maintain some kind of life has not been tried, anywhere. Stop the fantasy bullshit and look around. Seems like the original comment was people existing in cardboard boxes or tents, tents provided by tax payers. Congressmen (and women) get super fking wealthy on tax money and using their power to extort (but that’s a different subject). So leave it how it is: our money buys mansions for people who do nothing much more than keep us down and send tents to homeless victims, victims of wanting some kind mindless peace. By the way, our federal government is pushing us all toward a similar government depended life, similar. Wake up.
If you cannot provide supporting evidence, it's difficult to believe you. You are the one making the claim, therefore the onus to back it up is on you.
We both know that you don’t have any intention of evaluating evidence and possibly changing your position. It’s just a game that your professors taught you to play.
The issue here is providing subsidized, tax-payer funded free shit to drug addicts. Not the drugs themselves. Heroin and meth aren't even that big of a deal. If you've ever taken a pain pill you've essentially taken heroin. Give me a break.
I have spent 40 of my 53 years living in PA and NJ, and have seen homelessness in 20 years of working and/or living in Philadelphia. Drug use and mental illness (sometimes the former creates the later as AB’s “Tell Your Children…” book presents) create much of the homelessness phenomena in the northeast.
In South Florida where I spent 8 years and in Southern CA for 4 years much of the homelessness is also drug and alcohol related.
The subsidies may be part of the problem but are likely not the root of it.
Dependency on the government is a huge issue, but what I have seen of the homelessness issue as a person in the real estate management business, has been addicts to alcohol or drugs.
It's very sad that we have so many people in this really bad situation mostly due to liberal Policies throughout the country. The damages caused by these drugs and alcohol is very serious and our Government spends Billions of dollars taxpayers dollars every year and it seems like it only get worse.
Many of these people don't belong in Prison or a Nursing Home. They belong in a Asylum. Off of the streets not in Prison a place that makes sure they are taking the Medication and treatment they really need.
This is what im thinking he was clean for 21 years and they found 10 different substances? Seems a little fishy . I loved him and their music Its just last 3 sudden deaths the cause of death has been greatly protected.
He struggled with addiction in the past. I assumed he was clean, but addicts relapse all the time. Touring South America, wife and kids are at home, a few days of fun, it will be fine. Who knows? I don't really trust anonymous reports from "Colombian Officials" at this point in the story.
30 years of smoking and drinking and not sleeping while riding a bus around the country aren't good for the body either.
On a lark, I checked the American Airlines site for covid-19 entry restrictions for various countries and saw that Columbia now requires the vax to enter the country. I also read or saw something on one of Andrew Henderson's Nomad Capitalist videos that Columbia also requires a "vaxpass" to enter restaurants and the like. This means Oliver was most certainly vaccinated and boosted in order to enter Columbia to play a show there. Of course his drug abuse could be a factor as well. Its likely his death was due to both drug abuse as well as the covid-19 vaccines.
What is it with all of these entertainers (both music and Hollywood) and their use of drugs? The guys that comprised Rush were always clean and they made the best music of all. You don't have to do drugs to make good music.
For years Taylor spoke out against the V’s. He performed at age of autism and other events speaking out against it and even on video. Honored to have interviewed him when I lived in LA and shared a stage with him. RIP. He was fully VXD. It was required by 😈Dave Grohl.
Also she posted this:
Taylor Hawkins' heart was twice as heavy as it should have been when he died
Thank you for that. And total, utter SHAME on 😈Grohl for being an ACCESSORY to his MURDER. In case Americans and everyone else haven't noticed, there's a crap TON of Spike Murders going AROUND. THE GLOBE.
They were CREATED to be a GENOCIDE BIOWEAPON.
PERIOD. FULL STOP.
And it's TIME -
PAST Time - that everyone start CALLING THEM THAT.
Created by Satanic. Globalist. Fascist. Elites.
Connected to Gates. Soros. Schwab. And many MORE, but those are the top DIRECTORS/MOVERS & SHAKERS.
For the Global Genocide that 160 plus countries AGREED to around 1990. They are ALL IN ON IT.
And WHO carried out their PROGRAM for everyone?
FASCIST FAKE AMERICANS, LIKE FRAUDXI, CDC, NIH... Along with W.H.O.
And American HOSPITALS, American DOCTORS. Governors. Mayors. And all the way to the top, and every federal agency in between.
Taylor Hawkins did not OD. C'mon this is not our first rodeo. What other injected product was he recently using? What happened to the manager of the Foo Fighters shortly after they implemented their vaccine mandate for concerts? Yeah. Try to keep up.
I absolutely adored the Foo from their very beginning. I stopped following them when they did a song to benefit Planned Parenthood.... If I hadn’t stopped then, I definitely would have when they decided to require the shots to attend their shows...
Considering what a history of drug use (he OD’d about 10 years ago) does to the vital organs and the known damage of double and triple shots do to the body, and heart in particular, it shouldn’t be too far of a stretch to link them all together into a deadly cocktail.
Well, it is from the NY Post which has a better track record than some media. But they cite sources as Bogota police and other gov't officials. I assume they have no journalists on site.
Blaming every notable death on the vaccines is the other side of the Branch Covidian coin of viewing the vaccines as a savior. Hawkins had a long history of being a party animal, drug abuser. He lived the rock star life to the hilt and, like so many before him (drummers seem especially afflicted by this) he suffered the same ultimate fate.
Dude was in the drug capital of planet Earth, was a drug abusing rock star, yet you want to turn first to vaccines as the cause. This kind of madness does not help the cause of the fight against vaccine mandates.
Now, is is possible that he snorted massive quantities of coke that he might have otherwise managed to survive if not for a vaxx induced case of myocarditis? I suppose, but that still doesn't make the vaxx the primary cause and it is far more likely he died of an opioid OD, like most of his peers that have OD'd have.
None of it excuses the FF for their lame vaxx rules to attend their concert, but one does not beget the other.
Yup the guitar tech of the band Kiss died of “Covid” after being double-vd and all concerts required a vax for every attendee. He died in October and I don’t know when they were Vd, but I’ve read stories of people with blood clots months after the V—they are micro clots, so it takes time to accumulate. Also, pericarditis and myocarditis don’t just heal quickly, they damage the heart permanently, and many people ignore the symptoms.
The fake vaccine BIOWEAPON contains graphene hydroxide. It is an imperishable carbon based nano metal that links together once in the bloodstream and forms nano razor blades which then begin to slice up veins and arteries from the inside. It also contains certain substances which cause the clumping/stacking of red blood cells and this starts IMMEDIATELY upon entering the blood stream. THAT'S why the clotting and why it affects so MANY different areas of the body - brain, heart, organs, etc, esp where there is damage or weakness already.
Graphene hydroxide. The top scientist and if I'm not mistaken, the original creator of it released a video detailing all this information about finding the substance in the vaccines after closely examining several vials.
He was then BRUTALLY MURDERED 3 days later. His wife survived him and released her own video. You can find the videos on BitChute.
Are you really believing everything you read on MSM now? After all the lies we've been fed about covid and the vaccines, I can't imagine taking anything "reported" at face value.
After educating myself on the WEF plans, reading RFK's book on the pandemic, the "stage setting" for Biden's appearances, even the photoshopping of Lia Thomas' face to appear more feminine .....50 years of paying attention to the "news" (all the way back to the false Vietnam reporting, Dan Rather's falsification of Bush's records, etc), and gaining an understanding that the MSM has an underlying agenda in just about every story reported (they are telling you what to think, how you should react, instead of factual straight-forward reporting), I do not trust one thing coming from their mouths.
Really! Especially with a history of drug use, it is an easy scapegoat. He’d said he was clean and sober a while back... (Not saying people don’t relapse, but still this is highly suspicious.)
90% of my friends with addiction problems, relapse. All of them have had in- house treatment, one time or another. Without a doubt, alcohol is the most serious, with meth a close 2nd. Driving while intoxicated should be dealt with severely, especially since my grandkids are out there on the road all the time. What we need is a society that assumes personally responsibility for their actions. Therein lies the problem. Have a drink or blow a joint, but don't get in your car and kill those we love.
Kiss guitar tech Francis Steiner died at 52. He was fully Vd. Some people tried to blame their “lax policy” and yet they had masks, mandatory V for band members AND audiences. His death? Has to be Covid. Can’t possibly be that it was October, and their tour was completed Vd, and as predicted, his immune system was crap. Heck, he could’ve had heart issues that didn’t show up for several months (micro-clotting) that has been very common among V’d people.
The Foo Fighters were also very public about forcing concert-goers to have a vaccine or don’t show up. They were all Vd by requirement, but I’m sure it also had nothing to do with yet another 40ish or 50ish year old dropping dead.
It’s very, very sad- but why does a 1 liner towards the end of the first NY Post story say staff said he’d complained of chest pains the day before? Or maybe there’s no connection.
My fairly health uncle died at 27. How? Massive heart attack brought on by cocaine usage. So yeah, that chest pain thing probably related to drug usage.
I’m so sorry! Yes there definitely could be a drug connection. With a few ‘unexpected’ heart attacks in the news recently, plus the question of the v. medium or long term effects, if there are any, it’s hard to know what’s going on. I guess the toxicology reports will shed some light.
I hope someone does a toxicology report -- not that we'd ever hear about it.... Very quick/eager to report the drug cache. FF were very outspoken pro-C19vaxxers. Their band manager also died in Jun '21. Have they outright said it was an OD?
Yes, the autopsy shows he died of a heroin overdose, but that was not the only contributing factor. He was reported to have complained about chest pain prior to his death. My strong suspicion is he developed myocarditis post-injection, and that is what ultimately led to his death, with a little help from his friends.
Seems pretty quick for an autopsy. Was reading the comments of the reddit post and read this translation of part of that report: 'taking into account that there are no signs of violence, we have a preliminary hipótesis of the death as a possible OD. We await the lab results "
How about we come at this from a different angle? Where's all of the NYPost reporting on the dangers of the vaccine? And the side effects in the hundreds of thousands? VAERS reports? And the deaths and injuries in the vax trials?
Has the NY Post reported and DENIED the dangers of the vaxxes? *Not* covering something is different from *suppressing* or denying that something.
I don't know *how* they've reported on the vaxxes. But my reference to the laptop is analogous to this current drug OD reporting. If the Post has steadfastly reported that the vaxxes are safe and effective, then you have a point, and my reference to the laptop is wrong.
The dangers of the vax are well known and are at LEAST as much of a story as Hunter's laptop. Choosing to not report truthfully about those dangers does not make them de facto truth tellers, no matter the topic.
But *have* they chosen to not report truthfully about the vaxxes?
Unless that's the case, then your point does not stand. I don't read the NY Post so I have no idea what they have or haven't reported on with respect to the vaxxes.
But anyway, this isn't about the vaxxes. It's about the report of a drug OD death.
My question was, "They got the laptop story right; why can't they be getting this story right as well?"
Even IF they report that the vaxxes are safe and effective, THAT doesn't change the fact that they DID get the laptop story right. Which means they're not 100% wrong all the time.
Which means they *could* have this OD story right. That's my point.
This is a tragedy. Another artist taken too soon, in the footsteps of Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Curt Cobain, Andrew Love, Chis Cornell, and Whitney Houston, to name but a few. The fact that the Foo Fighters were very pro-jab puts another slant to this. Hawkins complained of chest pains, like Shane Warne and countless young jabbed athletes. Or was it the Fine Colombian? Or the butler in the library with the candlestick? The drug hypothesis was trotted out way too soon, without a tox report, as Loving Mom said.
And THEN tell us there's no way of knowing and use the phrase "paranoid conspiracy theories".
There's a HUGE difference between knowing TRUTH... And "paranoid conspiracy theories" and that phrase only exists as a widespread ad nauseum parroted phrase bc people in power who are behind REAL conspiracies WANT you to think the way you do - it's called "social engineering" and is a Fascist tactic...so you will be dismissive, so you will STAY DECEIVED.
THE GREAT DECEPTION is NOT a "conspiracy theory."
It's Conspiracy FACT, and you might just be one of the VICTIMS of those who are your enemies and in fact, intend you harm... Even death.
Sometimes unbelievably wicked things just simply happen to be TRUTH.
They had a gig, Taylor said that he never partied on show days as he couidnt perform. He wouldnt die from a drug binge on day of a show. He was a professional.
I hope Alex can get back to and eventually publish his book on drugs. I read "Tell Your Children" awhile back before I read "Pandemia." I'm just-about-senior age, and years ago married my college sweetheart who was a many-joints-a-day pot smoker. Of course, I thought he would grow out of it. As he had generous parents, he didn't work and was always stoned. His refusal to stop or even cut down caused me to leave, and raise our three children on my own with little to no help. To this day, most relatives think I was wrong to leave for this reason: "it's just pot, it's not harmful" but we lived in a dangerous and abusive environment. "Tell Your Children" validated, at least to me, that my observations about heavy pot use and its affects were real. Thank you Alex, and yes, I will tell my children.
Props to you D Joyce for making that tough choice. It could not have been easy, but the right choice is never easy. Cannot imagine the limitations placed upon you for protecting your children. Wishing you the very best and stay strong!
They sure are rushing fast to blame drugs on this one. Aren't they supposed to deny that it was drugs for a year, claim they can't say anything until lengthy tests are conducted and then quietly roll it out? They really, really want this one to be drugs.
Reporters don’t get how many people are caused pain by premature overdose reports, especially kids. I appreciated this from Jeff Childers from Coffee and Covid:
“But some facts didn’t seem to fit the overdose narrative, and now there’s a controversy brewing. First, the Columbians didn’t release a cause of death, despite finding all those drugs. Next, Columbian newspaper Semana reported that the autopsy also revealed Hawkins’ heart was enlarged, weighing over 600 grams, twice the weight of an average adult male’s heart. According to Semana, local officials said the drummer’s enlarged heart must have played some part in his death.
Next, the Daily Mail reported that witnesses at his hotel said Hawkins called the front desk for help due to “chest pain” before being found dead in his room when help arrived. The fact that father-of-three Hawkins called the desk and communicated intelligently about his condition, asked clearly for medical assistance, lucidly described concerns related to his heart — not issues typically related to overdosing, has generated some skepticism in the developing official story.
Next, a compelling recent interview video shows Hawkins discussing his health, his kids, the demands of touring, and saying he lives a normal, boring, healthy lifestyle. He said he doesn’t go to parties and his family doesn’t “live that kind of Hollywood rockstar life.” He says he doesn’t hang out with actors, is an avid cycler, and admits if he could just quit smoking he would be “the picture of health.”
Playing drums the way he did could be thought of as the equivalent of a soccer game. Perhaps this is not unlike the category of collapsing athletes. Alec Berenson goin mainstream on this is a huge disappointment
My sister gave me a good reminder about Berenson when I shared my dislike for this substack angle. She said “he’s a journalist. Please, yes, dislike the angle of a real journalist and not an advocacy reporter who only writes an “approved” angle.” Solid point.
I’ve been watching a dear one slowly killing himself on this shit the last 10 years. It’s a pretty awful way to live, from what I see. Destroys. Anytime I get a phone call I worry it’s his end. If depopulation is an agenda, this is part of the strategy.
It's more likely that it was the bloody vaccine. A trend here with "famous" people around 50 dying "unexpectedly". (Never heard of this guy.) I am near Australia where Shane Warne died and a day or so a 50 year old female senator from the Labor party. He was definitely vaccinated becauses the band was en route to AU and NZ where as Mr. Jokovic demonstrated, no entry without vaccine. It could be synergistic where some drugs like cocaine are hard on the vascular system. And then throw in a good dose of spike protein........
Interesting how the media and Berenson immediately jump to conclusions about drug use but when it comes to vaccine side effects its all about being an ostrich.
I am retired law enforcement of a major metropolitan department in California. I worked in the field for 35 years. The more you legalize drugs, the more our values disappear. A society needs values. I saw that everyday of my career. We need rules. We need limits. You may be a Libertarian, but you do like going out from your home knowing that you, and your family, are safe. It is as simple as that. BTW, Alex Berenson wrote a book about marijuana that I read- it is excellent, and every parent should get it.
I believe you are correct in the deduction that people actually do need rules, order, to their lives. I have not seen anything that really works, been to Europe, saw "Needle park" years ago before our drug problems had ballooned to this degree. It was a sad, sickening, miserable sight to see, now our city streets look very similar. Vancouver is the most stunning city, I was really overcome with it's beauty, but when I saw the "drug section", just a wasteland of human potential lost forever, another sad, actually sickening, sight. It hit me like pictures from a concentration camp, horrible human suffering and at their own hand. And no answers, still no real answers !
Yep. I’m in Vancouver. We have a horrible, horrible problem here. Open air drug market and safe injection sites. Nice idea??? Not sure it’s helping at all. The addict I know and love truly believes if he could get out of this city his life might be saved. I know you can’t just run away from your problems, but I do think he might have some wisdom in that line of thinking. I hope he gets out in time.
Such a breath taking city, such a terrible situation. I know the common line is addicts can't run from the addiction, but I concur with you on this one. I do think the flight can't be from city to city, I think it does take (getting hard to find !) a very small town, rural, environment, must be really really motivated to develop new hobbies from painting to hiking to photography, to get an animal to care for, to make new friends and help others through volunteering, to commit to a daily workout routine, learn and practice yoga or similar thought focusing DAILY practice.... it is just a tall order for an addict, used to having no real routine or boundaries, it's a tough one. Just a move alone, from a very urban to a very rural location, is unimaginable for most people. But yes, I DO believe there are circumstances where "running away" CAN be the answer. I once met (at church of all places !) a wall street trader cocaine addict, who was successful by changing everything. Luxury auto for a pickup, NYC for a very tiny "backwoods" Florida town in the panhandle, and having never done any kind of "art" of any kind, or ever had a thought about being "artistic", got interested in, of all things, CHAIN SAW carving ! This happened when he bought a "sculpture" for his new, tiny, rural cabin type home. The purchase led to a friendship with the artist, and ended with him learning from the artist. Sometimes you just never know where the most unexpected path can lead ! ! !
Although complete recover from addiction is (sadly) rare, I do think the stories of people who were able to "make it out" are not as publicized as those who didn't... the old "if it bleeds it leads" phrase in "journalism". Just heard that the daughter of a friend of a friend entered treatment voluntarily yesterday, all we can do is pray it "gets through" the fog of her mind and desire to protect the addiction so deep in her !
Come on, Alex. Love you man, but nothing is known yet. But to the point - what are you suggesting? That we expand the war on drugs? Criminalizing drugs doesn't work, and won't stop them. It never will. It will just put more innocent people in jail and foster organized crime. Take a look at Portugal. Legalize it all and help with treatment programs. The pro-government drug war is not a good look for you.
I say we adopt Singapore method of punishment. Bring in caning like they did to Michael Fay a while back. You get 10 whacks for each toke or injection. Dealers have it done publicly for all to see. As an employee I would never hire a stoner. There has to be some motivating factor that would work. Legalizing doesn't work and the war on drugs also hasn't worked.
So what is the real answer (I'm serious, not trying to be polyanna here) ? Is there some deep unknown that drives so many to want to kill themselves in such a long agonizing way ? Watched two nieces, the "party" fun soon becomes a nightmare of just desperately trying to get enough money for more, more, more, yet, legitimate careers were impossible after awhile, all self-esteem is lost, family, excellent education, great career start, nothing matters after awhile. Yet, what drives more and more people to take this up, what is missing deep in a life that seems on the surface to be on a bright path.... and why are more and more taking to this life style ? Over prescribing of Rx for sure plays into it, but that's not the whole story.
As you say, it starts as a party. The party becomes a physical and mental addiction. Once addicted, the absence of the drug becomes literally painful and it takes more and more of the drug to alleviate the pain. Then, as you also say, comes the low self-esteem. But the addiction takes that away too, but then that is also relieved by taking more of the drug. I knew a guy who served in Vietnam. A lot of drugs among the troops there. He told me that back then the military would imprison the addict for months to deprive the addict of the drug, and allow him to suffer through withdrawal. No trial. No record of it. That’s the logic of imprisoning addicts, simply deny the addict access to drugs. And before all the Substackers out there, I am not advocating locking people
Correction, before all the Substackers out there jump all over me, I am not condoning the imprisonment of people without due process. I’m just informing you of what I know on the subject.
Kind of reminds me of a movie that absolutely scared me to DEATH (and one I am absolutely SURE my parents had NO IDEA I sneaked into (no "R" ratings back then). Frank Sinatra in The Man with the Golden Arm, and yes, I had NO BUSINESS at my age being in such a movie, sneaking in when the two older siblings were "supposed" to take me to the Disney film ( $. 15 for those under 12 and I was not anywhere close to 12 ! ) That was like taking a very young child to the Texas Chain Saw movie, but it sure left a life long impression on me !
Better yet, restore the Fourth Amendment so that the poor and powerless can defend themselves from all the violent lunatics who want to illegalize freedom.
It would be poetic justice if the vaccine had a contributing factor. The PM of Fiji had heart issues and was rushed to Australia for emergency surgery. I estimated this was a week after this booster based on a speech he made on New Year's. This SOB had effectively mandated vaccines for the citizens.
Not buying it. Got it from a reliable source that he went to the lobby to ask someone to call an ambulance because he was having chest pains. If you’re on a bender you don’t fo that. He had been sober for years and now he has his family with him in this trip and he decides to start doing drugs? Not buying it. The whole band is vaxced. They required it at their shows. They all got the Rona post vaxc. Think about it. They’d rather have the memory of him being a drug addict than to cop to the truth that the vaxc killed him. We’ll never know the real story.
It's one of the major issues that keep me from being big L libertarian. As a critical care nurse I can't get on board with hard drugs. I've seen too many bodies destroyed. Yeah, I get it. Cigarettes and alcohol as bad and still legal. I can have a glass of wine at dinner and move on with my life. Heroin, not so much.
Alex only approves of medically prescribed drugs. Yes, it was the jabs. A man abusing heroin doesn't look like Hawkins - physically or mentally. He was complaining of chest pains when the ambulance was called. They are all fully jabbed and require their concert goers to be as well.
The only thing I approve of within China is their treatment of in-country drug dealers. They execute them. As for the drugs dealers who wish to bring harm to their greatest democratic enemy, America, the CCP supplies as much fentanyl as their Triads/Intelligence fronts can sell to the Cartels and Triads based in Mexico. China well rememberers what the Opium Trade did to China. They now visit the same upon the West. Tax revenues once obtained form Manufacturing Operations have dried up in many States as a consequence of outsourcing. So the same fools who exported our jobs now need new revenue streams to tax--so here come all the rationalizations for legalizing the same drugs that ravaged the country in the 1960's and 70's. Marijuana is but a gateway drug to drugs which cause far more misery still. Stop the madness and vote the spineless out!
I was thinking recently about the China situation, the fentanyl situation, how the opium trade devastated every strata of China's society, top to bottom. And how our gradual phasing out of our great manufacturing industry might play into all this... you tied it all together !
Fentanyl is a product of the drug war just like "bathtub gin" and "white lightning" were products of the previous drug war. China was destroyed by communism. BTW all prohibition wars are communist. They deny the existence of individual rights.
Do you believe China sees itself as a society that has been destroyed by communism ? Or (if you've visited there) did you get the feeling they (the guides, the people in the hotels and restaurants, etc.) feel they are a successful country and have personal freedom ? I realized immediately they are "guarded" in their speaking with tourists, as they were in Cuba when we were able to travel there for a short period, but not as repressed (on the surface) as I expected. I realize they have many many restrictions; on marriage, family life, choice of living accommodations, etc. but I was surprised that people shop, sit at cafes like KFC and Starbucks, and chat, smile, etc. On prohibition wars being communist, are you thinking of the war here on alcohol ? Do you think the communist party activity here at the time was the impetus, not the religious organizations and the social workers who detested the abuse families received from alcoholic fathers who (since few women worked except to take in laundry, ironing, things they could do at home) who social workers of the time saw as a drain on society and cruelty to women and children, when men did not return for several days after being paid, not until their entire paychecks were spent in saloons and brothels. Or do you think it was simply a philosophical move (by the communist party which was just taking root at the time, and part of their goal to remove the right of an individual to drink, smoke, or other engage in any other destructive behaviors ? Do you think there was a money motive also ? Pay offs to mobs, speak easy operators, police, etc. also ? We know all of those actually happened....but, were they also part of the communist plan to inculcate their particular views ? Interesting to ponder... never thought of communist activity as the root of prohibition, but, the party was certainly gaining a foothold here at that time...
Very interesting comments. I was referring to the old China being destroyed by communism. It is free markets that produce wealth and communism is about the central control of all economic activity and no private property which is why commie countries are the poorest countries. In the last twenty years or so, China has become a lot more free, especially economic freedom, and therefore a lot more prosperous. A friend of mine lived there for a year about two years ago and told me he felt freer there than here because he could drink beer in public which he can't do in the USA. Criticizing the government is still a big no-no over there but it is also becoming a big no-no over here. Look at the treatment of Jan 6 protesters.
Another friend who visited Vietnam was surprised to see no police except a for a few directing traffic. He said that Saigon was full of independent small shops doing business. To him, the economy looked free.
I did read about the history of alcohol prohibition and recall that there was an anti-saloon league. Some males who worked in factories would blow their weekly pay on gambling, alcohol, and women at one of the many saloons, and then go home to their wife with no money to pay the rent. And, of course, there is always some idiot who gets drunk and angry and proceeds to kick the family dog, and yell at his wife and kids. I have personally known a few people who would get drunk and start a fist fight. These kind of incidents cause some people to blame alcohol which is ridiculous.
I also recall a clergy person-minister who started the "temperance" movement. He preached moderation and became disgusted with the prohibitionists because they advocated violence (the law) and hatred.
Communism is the root of prohibition because it denies individual rights. They can make and enforce any law that they want. In our former Republic, any laws that violated the natural rights to life , liberty, and the pursuit of happiness were null and void. The supreme court was supposed to rule that those laws were un-Constitutional.
Every point you brought up is valid. "Blaming" the alcohol is like "blaming" guns. It just seems that decade after decade, and century after century, we stay in the same mental rut; if we just eliminate the offending culprit (the gun, the booze, the casino, the brothel, etc.) we CAN change human nature. It just goes on and on, while the shrewd politicians and elitists sit back and watch us participate in our self-destruction, all they had to do was "stir the pot" a bit, tell the masses those nasty guns are at it again...out killing people people left and right, causing school massacres to be so common, those gas guzzling SUV's also going wild and killing people (ever notice when there is a tragic accident, it never says a Ford sedan, or a Honda coupe, but if an SUV was involved, that is the featured line in the news ! I believe the bottom is we must start truly teaching students HOW ( the process) of thinking, analyzing, etc. before we do end up like the Chinese, "relatively" placated (with cell phones and some Kentucky fried), but not actually "free" ? Oh, maybe we are also in that condition ? More to ponder today...
That is interesting. Suspected their is a percentage who (silently) reject the doctrine, but have only visited, never lived and worked for an American enterprise there (though many of our friends at Caterpillar did), but it's is a (pleasant !) surprise to find out it is the average there. Could be a good sign ?
Ann Marie, Orwell's Nightmare is being perfected within China's Surveillance State. Small Happinesses occur within Chinese households but, especially in China's cities, ports of entry, all transport modes and hubs, every citizen's face and ear are photographed and placed in a massive data hubs--the State watches every move. Every foreigner entering China is also similarly ID'ed. Be wary of something similar happening here.
I assume that you do not want to execute all doctors, pharmacists, medical technicians, and millions of others who have legal access to drugs. Therefore, you want to execute a few billion humans just because their papers are not in order. Unfortunately, there are many ordinary people like yourself who have been completely brainwashed by drug war propaganda. Rick aka Freedom_First(at)verizon(dot)net
From lawyer Jeff Childers’ Coffee and Covid Substack:
💉 Yesterday I reported on the untimely, sudden and unexpected death of 50-year-old Foo Fighters’ drummer Taylor Hawkins, which is now creating controversy. Also yesterday, following a preliminary autopsy, Columbia’s attorney general issued a statement claiming that no fewer than TEN psychoactive and recreational drugs were found in Hawkins’ system, including pot, antidepressants, benzodiazepines, LSD, cocaine, heroin, and opoids. Basically the entire list. According to Columbian officials, he was a walking pharmacy.
So, for a brief moment, it looked like just another sad stereotypical “rock star overdoses on drugs” story.
But some facts didn’t seem to fit the overdose narrative, and now there’s a controversy brewing. First, the Columbians didn’t release a cause of death, despite finding all those drugs. Next, Columbian newspaper Semana reported that the autopsy also revealed Hawkins’ heart was enlarged, weighing over 600 grams, twice the weight of an average adult male’s heart. According to Semana, local officials said the drummer’s enlarged heart must have played some part in his death.
Next, the Daily Mail reported that witnesses at his hotel said Hawkins called the front desk for help due to “chest pain” before being found dead in his room when help arrived. The fact that father-of-three Hawkins called the desk and communicated intelligently about his condition, asked clearly for medical assistance, lucidly described concerns related to his heart — not issues typically related to overdosing, has generated some skepticism in the developing official story.
Next, a compelling recent interview video shows Hawkins discussing his health, his kids, the demands of touring, and saying he lives a normal, boring, healthy lifestyle. He said he doesn’t go to parties and his family doesn’t “live that kind of Hollywood rockstar life.” He says he doesn’t hang out with actors, is an avid cycler, and admits if he could just quit smoking he would be “the picture of health.”
Finally, alert readers pointed out this is the second sudden, unexpected tragedy for the band in under a year. Last June, the Foo Fighter’s stage manager, Andrew Pollard, also died suddenly and unexpectedly. The 45-year-old father of two young children, Arlo and Ren, was — ironically — also found dead in his hotel room after retiring for the night. Pollard’s death came just a few weeks after the band began requiring proof of vaccination for fans to attend its concerts.
Being in the Foo Fighters — a band that has been stable for over 20 years — is starting to look like it might be bad for your health, for some reason. Or possibly like a real-life game of Clue. Did they check whether Mrs. Green was in the Library with the Candlestick?
I work health care in a typical rust belt declining industrial city. We have a "marginalized" population in our inner city. We no longer even say anything if our mom's -to -be smoke marijuana all pregnancy long--just harder stuff. CPS cannot do more. And are we under-employed and over-serviced with no savings, a 63% graduation rate from our local (well-funded high school). Yes. Single moms are the norm and people don't make their appointments at the health center --and we send a cab for 75% of them! Yet now we tell everyone that smoking weed all day long is legal. What a great plan to make you weak, shiftless, without drive and ambition to do better for you and your children, with no consequences for all my "father of baby" men as they ae called on the health form. This has been our culminating plan since the mid 60's
Can't have Hero Dave Grohl's Vax mandate get slimed by a death of his bandmate of the last 28 yrs. We must always trust Dave Grohl and his edicts were righteous and the vax was not involved in this death. We'll never really know unless there's an actual autopsy with public findings.
There are many potential health maladies that are hard to diagnose especially if the patient is not experiencing difficult symptoms or is just stubborn about seeing a doc who conveys opinions of hypochondria because the doc cannot easily figure out the diagnosis. These health issues, autoimmune, lymphoma, myeloma, etc… are complicated to track down… but would be more deadly with recreational drugs and COVID jabs.
I have one of theses and I had to tell my doc I am taking charge to tell him what tests I need done… and I was right. He called me to tell me and apologized for doubting me when the tests came back positive. Expensive tests by the way. Because of my diagnosis I can ingest no recreational drugs, no cigars and very little alcohol. No more COVID jabs. My heart is fine so far, but can be damaged by my disease.
The point I am making here is that there is likely more to diagnose to explain his death at such a young age… that we will never know because those tests cannot be done now. The explanations will be the simple and media-stupid.
I took my family to see a Foo Fighters concert last year. We are all heartbroken over Taylor’s death.
News.com.au. Taylor Hawkins suffered chest pains in hotel room in Columbia, medical emergency. A bit suspect that People magazine is already reporting results of toxicology..a little too quick…
Not able to confirm this yet but a lot of noise on Twitter that Hawkins was coerced by Grohl to take jab. Hawkins was a supporter in past around vax injuries/advocacy. If this was true it seems surprising he would want to be jabbed. Very sad RIP
That's what life without God looks like...no purpose, self absorption, no service to others...break up of families... infidelity, sex without love...we are reaping the whirlwind...take the St Benedict option with other like minded people and live in Christian community...before you and your children are destroyed
Way too early Steve. Way way too early. Taylor has had issues but been sober for 20+ years so give him some respect. This is why I don’t pay for you anymore.
It’s sad when anyone dies of drug use. Being an addict isn’t a choice, but using is. He chose, end of story. I had a friend who died skydiving, choice. I had another who had a passion for fast cars, dead. Another smoking, dead. You either believe in personal liberties, even those that might be addictive or dangerous, or you’re for limited liberty. Some feel walking alone down the street without a mask is risky and dangerous, but it’s their right. Right Alex?
Some very dumb comments here. The police in Colombia have no stake in this. Rock stars go on the road and they go from city to city where they spend two hours playing to thousands and then 22 hours in hotels or on the road with mind numbing boredom so they take drugs and drink. I suppose Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Prince, Jim Morrison and on and on died from the vaccine too. It’s happens all the time. Stop with the idiotic conspiracy theories. This one doesn’t fly.
Can't rule out the fact that he just had a heart attack either. It's rare, but it happens. A fried of mine died last year at age 45 from a heart attack. No vax, no other health conditions. Didn't feel well for a few hours, next thing you know he's gone.
He had 3 kids it would seem it would have been time to kick the addictions and leave them behind. If not for himself then for his kids. No judgement but very sad. He survived a heroin od some years ago.
Grohl probably got the clot shot too, and just hasn’t had any side effects yet. He and Hawkins were very close friends. I don’t think he would mandate the shot for his friends and not take it himself.
Don't underestimate the power of the psychosis. All the right people say it's safe, effective and super important, so anyone saturated in msm, showbiz industry, etc, is sadly likely to be a true believer.
Now people like Fauci, Bourla, etc who have no reason to not be well informed on the real data I would suspect to take saline shots.
During and around certain holidays that are important to Satanists and Luciferians, for instance Halloween, there are groups among them that arrange human sacrifices... Sometimes in an actual ceremony ritual - but SOMETIMES the sacrifices are arranged to look like accidents or suicides, etc. Many celebrities have been said to have sacrificed people into in such ways in return for fame and fortune...
Who is the power behind the fame and fortune?
Lucifer/Satan
There is these days a real CULT in Hollywood and the music business as well as among politicians and others... It's all the SAME cult and countless ppl have joined it and admitted doing so publicly. If you want to know some history behind the Cult, watch Altiyan Child's video on YT about freemasons.
From Coffee and Covid Substack (Childers, J) "Finally, alert readers pointed out this is the second sudden, unexpected tragedy for the band in under a year. Last June, the Foo Fighter’s stage manager, Andrew Pollard, also died suddenly and unexpectedly. The 45-year-old father of two young children, Arlo and Ren, was — ironically — also found dead in his hotel room after retiring for the night. Pollard’s death came just a few weeks after the band began requiring proof of vaccination for fans to attend its concerts."
Is this the same foo Fighters that said we need to do the right thing and get vaxxed to take care of people's health and can't go to their shows unless you're vaxxed. Those Foo Fighters? They wouldn't do drugs, would they?
The same people on this thread touting lock up drug dealers and expand the war on drugs are the same ones who claim they believe in self sovereignty individual rights when it comes to the jab. What an adult decides to put in their own body is their own choice and right to do so. Be principled
I'm a fan of the band and liked Dave Grohl's book The Storyteller. I'm saddened by this. I have no idea what all of the factors were potentially contributing to Taylor Hawkins death and don't necessarily accept any initial reports at face value. But I do know this: My brother in law did a lot of coke in the eighties and nineties and has very, very serious heart damage to show for it now, even though he's been clean for years. (And he's not vaxxed either.)
I think it's the height of irony that we so often hear the loudest cries for egalization from the same folks who are so fearful of putting FDA approved drugs in their bodes. I recall seeing pts who were drug addicts and had tried just about every illegal drug on the street but refused to take their cholesterol or BP meds because of possible side effects. Marijuana's negative effect on the brains of young people (my son being one) are so dangerous precisely because the acute effects are relatively rare and mild.
My sympathies for your son - hope he is in recovery. Was at the vet many years ago and 2 functioning junkies were making the decision to put their beloved old german shepherd to sleep in lieu of putting him on pain meds because they "didn't want him depending upon drugs...". Truly heartbreaking for the owners, the vet, the witnesses and of course a good old faithful dog.
Your son is personally responsible for his failures, not the millions of others who are the victims of your warped and brainwashed thinking. Rick aka Freedom_First(at)verizon(dot)net
OP docfjs do not listen to this joker. Rick Jefferson - guessing you have never walked in docfjs's shoes and hope you don't, but do not be so flippant about mental illness and its triggers. Nice world you live in, boiled down to black or white, right or wrong. You lack compassion.
I used to be libertarian on recreational drug use until my state started allowing just that. You can have small amounts of heroin, meth, fentanyl, (you name it), and not be prosecuted. So what happened? Thousands of people are now living in tents with free food and other subsidies while they slowly kill themselves with their addictions. That's what happened.
Now I'm for enforcing the law against loitering, camping in unauthorized areas, and any kind of drug possession. Rehab, mental health treatment, or jail should be the only choices.
Drugs were legal in 1910 - you could go to a drugstore and get all the heroin you could afford. What didn't exist was the free food and subsidies, and "hobo villages" got run off, lawbreakers ended up on chain gangs. So there were definitely incentives to not get into that lifestyle.
Agree entirely. Most people don't want freedom, they want license. The difference is that freedom includes the complimentary obligation of responsibility. License is simply permission to do whatever you want without suffering the consequences of your behavior.
When it comes to vagrancy, I am more strict. Hobos do not have the right to camp in front of my house, or a business or in the park, or anywhere. The taxpayers of this country part with their hard-earned money specifically so they don't have to deal with filthy, drug addled degenerates everywhere they go. They want their kids to be safe to walk to kindergarten down a city street by themselves, like my father did years ago and like I did in the suburbs.
And yet.... Americans are clearly the most generous group of people on earth, rather from "guilt" because we are so blessed, or, simply the Judeo-Christian ethic in even those not associated with any religion, an American has great difficulty passing a person laying on the sidewalk begging for food, and too often, a little cash for another bottle of cheap booze. I don't have the answers, but seems somehow, somewhere we could find open spaces to take these folks, have them grow food, prepare it, raise animals, even sleep in the safari type tents that have floors and electricity, give them tasks and meaningful work to begin to build the basics of self-esteem, working, having a routine, surely anything is better than the way we handle it now ! ?
This type of shared communal living, hate to even use the word socialism here, was tried early on during the settling of the American colonies. The idea failed, because human nature, being the same today as it was back then, is such that not everyone took on their fare share of the burden. That's when John Smith, the dude in charge at the time, decided to give each person or family a separate piece of land and famously declared, "those who will not work will not eat". Capitalism, AOC, has brought more people in the world out of poverty than any other system in history. That it is not perfect is hardly a reason to scrap it and institute a system that has repeatedly failed throughout human history. And I am not saying that society should not take care of those who are truly unable to provide for themselves.
Absolutely agree with all, there were other "experiments" of similar models in many states in more recent times, turn of the century, etc. quite a famous one here in Florida, one in Ohio, and I believe Wisconsin once too. They were experiments kind of grouped together as "utopian" communities. Of course they didn't work, and still don't, nothing has worked as well as the imperfect system of capitalism. However, I do think an adaptation of a "communal model" could serve to remove people from living on the city streets, and also teach capitalism at the same time. I think it is possible, just not likely to happen, at least in a model that would actually accomplish much !
"AOC", love it, certainly not lost on ME.
I have a friend that I have known for the past 62 years who is a local homeless person. We have had some very interesting conversations about homelessness over the years since he has lived on the streets. These people are well cared for already. They know where to go to get food, clothing blankets etc for free. Beyond this there is no "community" that arises out of homelessness. If you don't carry your stuff with you or have a safe hideout your stuff is looted by other homeless people. When I confronted him about getting off the street, and why, I got a bunch of BS about too many rules, etc. These people area living where they want to be, and any additional "help" just makes the problems associated with homelessness worse for the communities they live in.
Yes, that's another aspect of this really complicated condition, it becomes inculcated. As you say, they learn how to take advantage of everything those providing it hope will "help" them "up and out". I've noticed, just in passing, many individuals in these urban encampments do have a kind of "dog eat dog" mentality, stealing from each others, etc. , while others, particularly those of all veterans, seem to have a share and share alike kind of philosophy. Could be the paranoia has taken over those where the "dog eat dog" mentality exists. Paranoia from the drugs, or possibly from past combat experiences, but most revealing was your telling of trying to have honest talks with your friend and getting nothing but "word salads" (i.e. BS, as you called it LOL !) "Too many rules" is a clue, teens often use that one when struggling between carnal desires and the maturing process. I agree your friend is living exactly where he wants to (or thinks he wants to ?) in a park, and alley, or under a bridge. So maybe the only answer is a STARK choice, to a state sponsored working farm or ranch, or, jail. Then, how can we provide that many jails for those who choose jail ? Yet how can we just let this continue to grow, it's getting dangerous now just to walk a few blocks in the city to the one grocery still open !
The UK docu series 'Filth Rich and Homeless' was quite enlightening on how many homeless do in fact choose to be, because they do not want to integrate into normal society's rules. Fascinating watch.
Is that a U-tube ? Net-flix ? What ? Or was that the 2017 (or around that time) Australian TV series ?
Learned helplessness.
For sure that's part of it; well meaning people, and not so well meaning local and federal governments are definitely not on the "tough love" philosophy train, but also many in my area at least, are military combat vets, others rejected their right to 12 years of free public education, and soon found their way to the drug life. A much smaller, but important number, had no involvement in drugs until an accident or dental emergency when a doctor (and a good number of dentists here) got them started on some very addictive drugs. It's a real "mixed kettle" as the old saying goes, and the bottom line is our American culture is disintegrating before our eyes as we grasp and grope at a variety of ineffective measures, but NOT supporting the life style by government checks each month might at least be a very good start ? But then, you get to the question, would there be popular support for cutting off checks to disabled veterans (drug addicted) ? Are people ready to deny even food stamps for teen mothers (strung out) and their babies ? Throughout history there have been those driven to various drugs and in this century it has definitely become much more complicated with no clear "causes" and certainly no "cures". Frankly I don't have as much confidence in legalizing all drugs having a deterrent effect, as some on this forum believe. But, it looks like we are certainly moving rapidly in that direction (an entire industry is now in place, including distribution similar to a grocery or fast food chain. I don't think this "try" at winning the "drug war" is going to work either, but I'll reserve harsh judgment. I see increased usage, especially the younger less mature users, I anticipate greater drop out and graduation rates, increased accidents and higher insurance policy rates. Increased need to expand police forces to deal with groups of unemployed teens and non working adults, an uptick in petty theft in stores as the ability to finance the drug routine increases and income decreases or ends due to lack to responsibility at work, or complete inability to work. Let's hope none of this happens as we continue on our quest for complete freedom in regard to now illegal drugs. Let's hope it does not push the numbers higher of who become so unreliable (from addiction to the legal drug alcohol also) that they can no longer maintain a simple job, or cause the drop out rate to go even higher ! Long ago we decided, as a nation, education was THE answer to create a cohesive society, strong families, and a sound economy. We decided it was the key to an informed and intelligent electorate. We made the very tough decision to hold parents responsible for seeing that their children got this education...regardless. Regardless of the family need for the child to work, regardless of the willful child's determination NOT to be educated, regardless of the economic impact "truant" fines may have on a family already struggling financially. Another angle study; the distinct pattern of the children of the super wealthy and privileged, even if they are involved in drugs. doing drugs, are still required by their family to stay in school (most often private and presenting a much more rigorous academic curriculum than public schools), and then made to go to university, again, regardless of their drug involvement. Do the super wealthy realize something others don't ? The value of taking responsibility of insisting on education in the hope that at a future time, their children will realize the value and wisdom of why they were made to get an education ?
Why can't "ordinary" parents insist on this just as wealthy parents do ? Very complex to be sure, but, of course "ordinary" people "could" do the same. Dr. Ben Carson has often spoken publicly about how his mother, who certainly had no option of sending him off to a private residential prep school to get him off the streets, insisted on his school attendance, saw to it that he had plenty of homework, and ultimately saved him from what could have been the life of an addict or a criminal, or both.
So, why not at least try mandatory education ? Sure can't make things worse, and just might get us farther than mandatory vaccinations !
Thanks Ann Marie
Excellent point.
Ann Marie, I've thought the same .. for a decade plus. Your post will probably not garner much attention or <crazy> likes; but, I like your thought process. Your suggestions are a good place to start.
Well I'm not the "social worker" type, lol, but seriously, we have to do something, and no one seems to have any workable ideas. I thought about a big city I lived in when the homeless problem was nothing like present, but while not THE answer, it was clear that the Salvation Army in that city was actually making progress by taking homeless addicts far far away to a working farm they had established. Made me think recently, could we not find "wide open spaces" somewhere in this country, where people could learn how to live again ? I don't know, not a social worker, but surely we could make some progress.
Recently I read Jean Leidloff's Continuum Concept as a friend (a young woman) has been raising her child according to these principles. The child is incredibly calm, well-behaved and responsible. She was toilet trained before age 2. And she very much *wants* to participate and be responsible as she is able, even as a 3-year-old
The book and the ideas are revoluntionary, and I suspect if society could rearrange itself so that children really mattered, we'd see much less addiction and subsequent homelessness. (Jean Liedloff surmised as much.) She is part of a small but I suspect growing group of parents who are seeking a new way of parenting (which is actually an ancient way of parenting), and there is no reason that children couldn't be accommodated by modern businesses (except that they don't want to).
I understand the rebellion against society's "rules" because modern society is indeed an invisible form of slavery. I think many of the rebellious understand this at least subconsciously. But the only way to *truly* dismantle it is with sobriety, and awareness and super-responsibility as my friend is doing, and create the seeds of a new system.
I strongly encourage anyone with even mild curioustiy to read the book and become familiar with it.
https://continuumconcept.org/
👍
While I love the caring and thought process, and would even support such an approach, I think we would find that most don't want to leave that life. In almost every case that I have had extended interaction with homeless people, they want to stay in the addiction and are accepting of the fact that they must continue to live as they presently do in order to keep it.
Totally agree with one caveat; I recently had personal experience with an extended family member who definitely wanted to continue the "life style" (even after once having tasted a very high degree of career and financial success !) even after a succession of ever decreasing homes, from beach front condos to by the week motels and finally, the actual streets. For the very reason you stated, did not want to leave the homeless state as there would be "strings" attached to make drug use difficult if not impossible. The interesting thing is she now explains to people how that is also just a part of the entire condition; says that is a "mental state" to "protect" the addiction and will eventually leave the mind (unless damaged beyond repair) once drugs have been withdrawn for an extended period of time. The human mind is a marvelous and mysterious thing...remember there are those who have had all the Covid vaccinations and boosters the law presently allows, and yet, even while dying of Covid, will continue to insist the present vaccinations work and protect and advocate for them with their dying breath. We saw many examples of this during the pandemic when the news would interview health care workers who witnessed this first hand as they attended dying patients. I personally believe addiction can make rational thought impossible because it would mean abandoning the drugs/life style. Just one opinion among so many !
Lots of things can make "rational" thought impossible. Dementia comes to mind. But so can denial, programming, massive propaganda campaigns broadcast by all various forms of the mainstream / corporate media, including most of the so-called "alternative" or "progressive" media, etc.
Truth. Finding those ready to receive that help is the challenge. When we do, we should go all in to help them on the recovery journey. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
When we had State Mental Hospitals that’s exactly what they did. The patient were responsible for growing/raising food, had small government council, even a fire dept! They were small Cities were the patients learned to have a purpose in life
But that's the point, that's not exactly "communal living". That was supervised, professionally treated patient rehab. Reagan did away with funding for mental hospitals.
Always amazing to me how ONE MAN has so much power to change the face of America to it's detriment... Like now, with Brandon, puppeted by his handlers.
First Reagan was at the tail end of a long fight by the democrat controlled ACLU. I worked in the State Hospital through that. It was very much like supervised communal living for many years. Then the ACLU was convinced by major donors that it was some type of forced labor and had to be stopped
The stories a long one but you get the point. Reagan saw a way to save money and went along. It wasn’t a republican democrat issues at the end. It was the ACLU screwing up one more needed service for a very rich donor
Yes. There must be a better way to deal with the homeless population that keeps growing. Unfortunately, no one ever mentions the biggest cause which is the property tax on homes which keeps growing and growing. Shelter, like food and clothing, is a basic necessity and should not be taxed. My biggest expense is the tax on my modest home which is now over $5,000 per year.
There are many people who work full time and cannot afford a modest home or apartment. It's a ridiculous situation.
Certainly understand ! We lived in Illinois (never found a thing they could not tax there) for some time. They even taxed food and medicines, not to mention the outrageous property taxes. Took a position in Florida, what a SHOCK, knew it would be a quite an improvement, but the first time I bought groceries I had a momentary thought "this can't be right", clerk noticed my look and asked "is something wrong" ? I just said thought total was low for what I purchased. I was so used to taxes on everything, even food and medicine ! Next shock, very first pay check, got 7.5 % raise....no state income tax. Then came the real estate tax bill, school district, fire district, etc. not the $6100 of our 3BR 2 Bath 2600 sq. ft. home, but $1872 for only slightly smaller home (2600) in Florida. Don't intend to move north again ever....LOL ! Fresh fruit and vegetables year round, and fresh caught sea food, is a nice extra, but that fresh Florida caught sea food is the same, or only slightly less expensive than in the "north".
Forgot to add the best part of the story about moving "south". When I had that first experience in the grocery store, and the clerk noticed my puzzled look at that total (because I could not find the TAX on the bill) I explained it didn't appear to add total the taxes. She said there are no taxes because I only had "necessary items", in other words my order contained no toys, beach coverups, small waste baskets or any of the various other things one can find in grocery stores these days. "You can't charge taxes on things people MUST have", she said, "you ONLY have necessities". ( I had food, aspirin, band aids, all kinds of things to stock the new medicine cabinet, etc. !) "Well", I said, "they sure don't know that in Illinois !" Instead of laughing, she looked really distressed and puzzled !
Fentanyl is the cure, lots of it. Ban Narcan
The unemployed, drug addicted should go to rehabilitation centers and helped to find a job afterwards.
Most halfway houses (where many go post rehab) require jobs as a condition of staying there. At least they used to. Until $$ took over the rehab industry.
There ya go, BINGO, $$, complete take over of the rehab "industry" ! Would be fascinating to find out how the present "success" rate since the health insurance industry moved into the addiction "business", compared to years ago before there were no dispensaries to "maintain" addicts, and needle exchanges, "safe" injection sites, etc. and the only alternative was to turn to AA/NA, which did not end in 30 or 60 days (when the insurance ran out), but went on for a life time). As one 25 years sober individual related to me, AA/NA is the original life long "wellness" program, no insurance needed, no cost, and can do no harm following it even to people who are not involved with addictive substances !
They usually have to be forced or interventioned... And many times relapse until they finally get tired of living death.
Hobos don’t want a structured life Dash that’s what they doing on the streets, and that’s where they want to be, and you are interfering if you try to change the vagrant mentality in any way
That is certainly true in many cases ! As I said, have a relative who also explained how that is a mental "block" that can be changed with time in some cases because it is a defense mechanism to "protect" the addiction. I agree there are those people who just don't want a structured life, but then, many of those do not just camp right on the sidewalk or in a park, some tend to do just enough unstructured work (like tree cutting, or tearing down old structures for people, etc.) to maintain a small domicile (cabin, trailer, RV) on a small patch of land, not a public park or under a bridge. And some, like you say, just prefer that same life but on public streets and alleys. But my belief is most are not the "hobo" (meaning unencumbered itinerant adventurer ) types, but are there due to the metal changes that are the result of addiction.
I have been thinking this exactly for a long time - that we can find some place where they can help themselves (with help) to become self-sufficient, learn trades (for those who are able), etc. The bigger issue is that the way things have become is part of an agenda.
Yes, while I am not sitting in on a couch saying it would be "easy", but on the other hand, I see what an organization called Tunnels to Towers is doing in my area, building an entire town for disabled veterans on donated property and volunteer help. Surely we the people, could use that basic model to build a nation wide system of such farms and ranches. But like you, I am afraid there are far to many diverse agendas making every effort a dead end ! Would "rights" groups oppose sentences that give an either or choice ? Would the established system of "treatment" centers (where they exist in the local court system) oppose the huge financial blow to them if a nation wide system of free, volunteer supported, self-supporting through crop and animal raising, and most of all SUCCESSFUL living-working centers would present ? After all, where treatment exists as an alternative for judges, it's often a "revolving door", short term, sometimes even "out patient", so they affected individual does not ever have to get completely substance free to comply. Thus, the public taxes provides a steady stream of income for centers (who maybe thorough no fault of their own due to "sentences" of 30, 60, 90, days) who really have extremely low (some say 5% when studied out 5 years) rate of success. This model of an actual working community producing products like grain, cattle, hogs, chickens, vegetables, etc. , teaching trades like a community college or trade school, welding, plumbing, electrical and carpentry work, and all long term so as self-esteem is built (you can't build self-esteem READING about it in a treatment center's group therapy sessions) as the community works and interacts. The real challenge would be to make this the main stream, not some isolated experiment by some church or social service agency. If it were just "the way things are done here", live and work village or jail, I do think we would see a downward trend in drug use, and definitely there would be no homeless living on the streets or public places, that would not be one of the choices. A dream I am sure, just as you say, way too many "agendas" !
Consider reopening State Mental health hospitals that return to self-support and have long-term drug rehap of at least a year
The last ones in CA closed 1979. By early 1980. Homeless began lining our Streets
Yes, lived in Illinois for a period of time. Most there completely deteriorated, were ravaged by opportunists who eventually went in and took copper wire, fixtures, anything useful that could be sold. Eventually, state had to completely demolish due to the deterioration and crumbling walls, no glass left in the hundreds of windows, etc. Some of those actually treated a few patients successfully, but by far only served as warehouses, some actually filthy and abusive to the forgotten patients without any family or guardians. I knew of one there, in a rural area, that actually did have a farm, all able patients did work on the farm (it was flowers and vegetables only), and some did recover. How many of those had drug problems (?) have no idea. Drug use back then was more difficult in small rural communities, so most of the patients in that particular institution were probably suffering from true mental illness, not addiction.
Let's stop calling Judeo-Christian what are basically Christian values and ethics. This is really annoying.
What ??? Maybe I misread ? There are no values to the old testament ? Guess that is why it is so easy to lead people into anything, they are so busy calling each other's religion "useless".
There are, but not the ones you're mentioning. The Old Testament is pretty cut-throat stuff. If you are a gentile, though luck, no charity for you, and even if you were not, the Old Testament is not very generous in all on this "Love Thy Neighboor" stuff.
All those ideals that you are calling Judeo-Christian came to be since the first advent, through the sacrifice of the Son of God, therefore they are essentialy Christian not "Judeo". The jewish religion specifically denies that Yeshua is the Christ, so, it is probably not in good taste to mix those different sets of values and imply that they share beliefs and values that are specifically of a Christian nature.
Yes, and we choose to live where it’s cold and not as much free $hit for the free loaders.
So, why don't you all cut cut the crap, take some license and start doing your constitutional and moral duty--clean up the mess you're pissing and moaning about, but unwilling to get up off your lazy asses to take care of what others who should be doing it, won't. People who complain, but take no direct action to resolve problems like this, lose their right to complain--it's your community--your country, for God's sake--either do something to put an end to it or just shut the fuck up...!
So, what would you like me to do? Should I go get my crow bar from the basement, go downtown and start cleaning house? Should I start busting skulls? I'd surely love to do that, but that would likely get me thrown in jail. How do you address a society that insists on suicide?
Run, do not walk to the nearest exit.
Secession is long gone as an option.
Making noise IS doing something. Silently following the herd and doing what you are told is doing nothing. People making noise, what you call complaining are much more apt to do something. Sometimes complaining is a start. I will never shut the fuck up. What is enough action that needs to be taken in order to have the right to speak? who the fuck are you to determine that? And what, prey tell, are you doing??
Bravo! It's so insane how a bully shows up in the middle of a civilized conversation.
How do you know we aren’t? Geeze. Sounds like you might be a liberal spy or addict?!?
Pelosi would arrest us for cleaning without a License.
mic drop
So, one guy who TRIED to do something, who built using his own money, tiny houses for homeless - and what were the cops ordered to do?
TAKE THEM AND DESTROY THEM.
FASCISTS don't ALLOW constructive change in their Destroy America Agenda.
And ALL those who make those decisions are BOUGHT in Fascist states like Cali.
Hmm, per George Carlin, it’s not the politicians who suck, but, the public…
And, his campaign slogan was: the public sucks, F hope. Frankly, America is dead, the actual death of the public hasn’t caught up…yet.
People in positions of power authority and influence, if not frank control, need so relentlessly and brutally ostracized and marginalized, their gonads ache and they flee to other shores to harass, decay, and kill.
Never really liked George Carlin once he started preaching.
A good point, but, I believe many people, just everyday working, raising a family, etc. people, don't KNOW how to start such a clean up. I believe the only path they feel is open to them is to "complain"; to go to city council meetings, to write "letters to the editor", even to contact local TV stations. Many are even ready and WILLING to go and physically help dismantle the tents and cardboard "houses" next to their schools and in their parks, but they fear they would be looked at as a "mob", "insurrectionists" so to speak, and be fined or arrested themselves. What to do with this sea of humanity ? How to begin ? Would ultimatums even work ? Maybe ? Take those actually living in the train terminals, parks, even public libraries and present a choice: You can choose to go to one of the various state "farms" where you will have clean living (dorm like) facilities, showers, cafeterias with 3 meals a day, and you will work on the farm to grow the food, raise animals, etc. or you can choose jail (where you will also dry out from drugs including alcohol). Don't think people are ready to back such as binary, either or, choice, but living on public property anywhere would not be a choice. Would some just continue to live on the state/local "farms, ranches" for the rest of their lives... possibly. But then, many spend their entire lives in prison anyway. Don't know, just think we need to try "something" ! We are opposed to jailing addicts, but, what if we gave them a choice ? Life of working on a farm/ranch and guaranteed shelter and food (rather than subsidy checks and food stamps), or going to jail. Then those opposed to incarceration of people for the "crime" of drug use, might also be satisfied if a choice was given ?
I like the idea of making the homeless work for their free housing. I think the number is close to $1B in California alone to provide housing to homeless.
A billion dollars, all earned by others, for housing, and yet, they cover the streets and alleys of most large cities ! ?
Wow super helpful advice
Just my two cents, but it's not really because drug addicts and hobos are given handouts. They were always given food and help. The difference is: Who's doing the giving.
When it was church and other civic groups, there was a semblance of a social contract: 'Look, we're here to help out. But, you've got to do your part. This can't be a permanent thing. You need to work on improving yourself, or else you need to shuffle on out of here.' Hence, there were hobos riding trains and constantly shuffling on, but the rest were expected to work to improve their station, sometimes with the aid of these same civic and church groups.
There are still some church and civic groups. But, the vast majority of aid given to those who are drug addicted or down on their luck is from nameless, faceless bureaucrats. There is no unspoken obligation to improve one's situation or move on. There is a belief by the bureaucrats and homeless alike that the handouts are a right or entitlement.
It's because those doing the giving are doing so with other people's money. They don't care to improve things. They simply want to patch over the problem for a little while, then make self-righteous claims about what they do with your money.
As churches die out, this from a church going Lutheran, Your scenario and I agree it is a much better one, dies with it unfortunately. The left wants to destroy the nuclear family, the church, and local communities and government. Our task has to be to fight the left whatever that might entail.
Bingo on every point. Civic, and especially religiously related organizations, always did a far far better job of helping the homeless find a better life. Bureaucrats do indeed want to just "put on a temporary patch", much like doctors who prefer to dish out the latest Rx, rather than address root causes and instruct patients on how to adjust diet, life style, etc. As for "other people's money", that old phrase never goes out of style; Elon Musk just quoted it again a day or so ago (probably in relation to old Joe's "new" scapegoat targets to direct OUR anger at him to others.. this time to get us to HATE and BLAME billionaires. That will probably be a very popular chant of the masses since most never (as usual) stop to REALLY think what that would mean (capital gains and all) to "get" those evil corporations and entrepreneurs.... everyone knows that the government could run them better anyway, agriculture, utilities, health care, manufacturing, etc. could all benefit from government running everything right.... LOL ! After all, they have never been able to draw up a workable budget in YEARS...hey, when it's "other people's money, who cares !
Another church attending Lutheran.
Churches continue existing when they lift people out of homelessness.
Government bureaucracies cease to exist if they lose their "clients"
Funny, I wrote the original comment in this thread . . . and grew up a church-going Lutheran (grandson of a Lutheran minister, no less). What are the odds?
Yup
And as I did ;-). It would be wonderful to see kids playing again
Excellent distinction!!
Brilliant.
Good point. Unfortunately, in my state, they will never remove the subsidies. They are enabling the destructive behavior.
It's intentional. All part of the plan to destroy the moral fabric of our society ~ and they are very successful on so many fronts.
The AP reports Newsom is proud of his second trans appointed judge. As a lawyer I don’t care about identity; I care if they’re a fair arbiter of the law. In the same post they deride states like Utah that are protecting women’s sports. There was a time women were a protected class. Now that’s out the window for a male who is biologically a male with all the testosterone but now masquerades as a woman. No more of this nonsense. I am not as strong as a man never have been. It sucks. I do look with envy at what men can do but that’s reality. We need to step back into that space before women are erased for our unique contributions
I totally agree. However, it needs to be a two-pronged attack. We have to stop the "in your face" destruction of women's sports. But we also need to stop the insidious indoctrination (sexualization) of our children with gender ideology in the schools. Via the education system, we, as a society, are allowing the normalization, by fiat, of more and more "formerly aberrant" behaviors. My sincere question is, where does it stop?
Like you, I didn't use to care about "identity". However, when Biden appointed a queer activist involved in kink (part of the "pup community") to handle nuclear waste management at the Department of Energy, I realized they are never going to stop. There is no bridge too far. The appointee went to MIT, and is undoubtedly quite smart/capable, but does his activism and sexual proclivity belong in or have to be accepted in the workplace?
https://yournews.com/2022/02/11/2298140/bidens-new-doe-hire-is-a-queer-activist-who-brags/
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/new-biden-dept-energy-appointee-part-time-drag-queen-queer-activists-145352610.html?
I’m not sure it stops at pedophilia being accepted as mainstream, but that is the goal of this continual nudging. When you accept absurdities, you will accept atrocities.
I agree the focus on (and even encouragement of) alternative gender identities has gotten out of control. I've seen it firsthand in my children's middle and high schools. My theory is the normal and natural hormonal fluctuations of adolescence (when kids are in the process of self-discovery) is being exploited; to what end, though, I cannot figure out. What I do know is that it's confusing the hell out of these poor kids, and causing rampant and unnecessary anxiety and depression in this age group. It's heartbreaking.
@Elizabeth- don't forget: Men look at women with envy, too. Real men, anyway. I want to hear from those women who fought for Title IX back in the 60s and early 70s until it was passed into law. We're all bombarded by those clueless young women, my granddaughter included, and girls who have had the luxury of playing sports under Title IX without even thinking about it but I'm old enough to remember those days without it. Shoot, even in the early 2000s my daughter had to threaten the athletic director of our high school because he wouldn't allow her to try out for the boys bowling team after he, without any input, got rid of the girls team. He immediately reinstated the girls team because of that threat (and yes, she was a better bowler than most of the boys). Ridiculous, the thought processes of people STILL.
House of Representatives is set to vote this week on legalizing marijuana at the federal level. Yes, the moral fabric in our country has been destroyed.
Cannabis is not the problem. The myths of it being a "gateway drug" and "causing people to be lazy & unproductive" were Nixon-era propaganda to support their failed "war on drugs." The reality is that it was/is a threat to BigPharma because of its many health and medicinal benefits without the dangerous side effects of synthetic drugs. It's interesting when one follows the money trail, it so often leads back to BigPharma. So, I would say the moral fabric of our country is being destroyed by corporate influence on government (aka fascism).
Why are they trying to get the entire country to approve pot and small amounts of drugs? A drugged/dependent population is a malleable population.
That is also part of the WEF/NWO plan to destroy the US from within. Kill its citizens and destroy the downtowns all in one swoop. All with the help of our elected representatives who are getting rich as they kill their own homeland. Ingenious.
The most startling development is our own president (accidentally ? ?) slipping and referring to we are indeed heading to the goal of a New World Order... of course he was told NOT to say that, and immediately they got busy at the WH saying he really didn't say what everyone around the world heard him say !
Yeah! Like an old dementia dog - keep on leash, away from triggers or else he will start shouting defensive stuff. As we witnessed today. So embarrassed for him. And his Handlers. Tut tut. Now worried about how Putin addresses.....
Yesterday when he was on one of his long stories about how many great Americans our country has produced, and attempted to name a couple and then (having JUST passed away the day before !) he could not remember the name of Madeline Albright and as he went into one of those strange "episodes" and finally said, "like that great lady that just DIED"... I really thought I had to have not heard that correctly, HOW CAN ANYONE do that, how must her family feel hearing a president call her "that lady that died" ? It's really beyond belief, but you know, I didn't see any fall out on that, guess that's considered proper decorum now ? "that lady that died".... I'll never get over that, he never did say her name !
I’m not embarrassed for him. I’m concerned for we American citizens. He seems like a good guy from first glance. However, peel back the onion and one realizes he severely lacks moral character and integrity, and he has terrible instincts. I pray for him, but do not like him nor the decisions he has made. His handlers I loathe- clearly terrible people.
On topic, his son was and probably still is a big druggie. It doesn’t seem like Joe nor Jill did anything to help him.
like
But the world got Jazz, which is mathematical on a natural scale.
It’s called “codependency,” and Al-anon is where all those liberal saviors need to go
Ahh, but the liberal saviors are seriously, blindly addicted to their own benevolence.
Their virtue is their entire life.
The Future Is Made Of Virtual Insanity....
Maybe so but their benevolence is supported by my (and every other taxpayer’s) money.
Dont forget virtue signaling. Sometimes to oneself.
You are exactly right Vee. Many years ago I read a "Letter from the mother of a homeless addict" She begged the public and the government to STOP enabling her son's lifestyle. She said, correctly, that he would never ever hit total bottom and finally get help as long as he was being clothed and fed.
Those facts breed conservatism, which is simply putting experience and common sense to good use. Liberalism is the disregard of experience, truth and reality that interferes with their idiotic hope for different outcomes from employing the same shit every new day.
I would call it progressivism. There is nothing liberal about “liberals.”
Progressives are regressive.
The left loves their word games.
One constant is that everything they accuse anyone not with them of doing is exactly what they themselves have done or are doing. That makes those leftist simpletons very predictable.
Truth
What didn’t exit in 1910 was the mainstream glamorization of drug culture - “drugs, sex and rock and roll”.
Totally agree. I live in Miami and I'm the outlier for not wanting to bounce off the walls all day/night. Plus I live in a nice building and I'm surprised I have any brain cells left with all the second hand weed I inhale yet management and residents don't do anything. If there were consequences drug users would think more about their usage and annoying others....
I live in northern California and the stink of weed is omnipresent in public places. Cigarette smokers hide out behind buildings away from people to smoke and marijuana smokers waltz around smoking joints anywhere they please. It's bizarre.
Neither cigarette smokers nor weed smokers should have to hide from the likes of you. Get over yourself.
Diego said not one word about anyone hiding from "the likes of" him. What an asinine retort on your part.
What is taxed more is the lesser demon!
This is Uncle Joey's Image just like he wants everyone to believe that a woman with balls is superior to a woman.
We moved back to my hometown of Oklahoma City in august. There is now a cannabis shop in every strip. They all popped up 3-4 yrs ago after they legalized medical marijuana. We took our son to see the new Spider-Man a couple wknds ago and the entire theater smelled like weed. And vaping weed is now ubiquitous among teenagers.
So you would arrest people for “annoying you”. Get over yourself.
You are “annoying me” with this bullshit statement. Can I send the cops to your door for that?
I think you’re misreading what he’s saying and he’s not talking about arresting anyone.
1. Observation - Enough pot that it’s noticeably smelled in the air.
2. Observation - Ironic that cigarettes are legal and pot isn’t necessarily but culturally we are so against cigarette smoking that legal hides behind buildings and perhaps illegal pot smokers are out in the open.
This is normally a rational, savvy and generally civil group. Just sayin’.
Observation -
“If there were consequences drug users would think more about their usage”
Sounds like a threat to me as a weed smoker. (&cigarette smoker)
If you spray to much perfume in the air or take a huge dump should I be worried by someone else’s sense of smell?
Long explanation, sorry;
I don’t know. I grew up in Vegas. One of the last places you could still eat breakfast and have a smoke afterwards. Upu could even go to a wendys and they’d give you an ash tray.
UNTIL Californians came in and fucked it up for everyone.
For 5 years thanks to the Californian invasion and them taking over our city we couldn’t smoke in bars that served food.
My wife was fired
The kitchen staff fired
Dish washer etc.
thousands out of jobs so a few fucks that could’ve just gone to chilis or outback to eat just wanted to dictate how they were culturally against cigarettes.
I believe if you have a bar that wants to serve smokers or a hotel or a housing community then so be it.
People who do not like it will find other places to spend their money. Why do we need the government under threat of violence to come in and tell us what to do?
Anyway I’ll
Finish my long add story
They built some Bullshit glass window that magically separated the dining from bar area and bars that could afford to make that upgrade could serve food again but many bars went under because of this.
4 years later
It’s all back to the way it was. Except now I can’t take my kids to breakfast at the bar because the “smoke”.
Guess my point is If you have a problem with a smoke filled housing development then MOVE.
There are plenty of Non smoking developments you can move to.
You don’t need to call to your authorities the same authorities that would’ve locked you up for not wearing a mask a couple months ago because someone is doing something you don’t like.
…whiskey
In 1910 they did not have the myriads of drugs they have now, including the drug pushing doctors for so called depression and whatever reason you want to be high. In 1910 they did not have the modern conveniences we have now such as huge grocery stores, TV, computers, washers and dryers like ours, dish washers, toasters like ours, we can go on and on with the list. Life was harder in 1910 if you did not work you did not eat, and We had world war 1, (1914) and a small depression.
People were too busy working to survive to have time for drugs. Intact families and values all glued together and resting apon religion and the belief in God. Organized relion is not perfect because it is instituted by humans and has hurt people sometimes. The solution to bad teligion is not no religion, it is good religion. Lookat two grafts showing the decline of relgious practice in this country and the decline in moral behaviour and increase in crime and they will all show similar trends.
But incest and wife-beating was approved and legal back then. Gotta get out those frustrations one way or another....
That’s absurd. Wife beating has never been “approved” in the West.
Alabama was the first state to rescind the legal right of men to beat their wives in 1871. Massachusetts followed shortly. Wife beating was made illegal in all states of the United States by 1920.
Nesting? I was referring to taking out personal hatred upon a weaker and dependent subject. Still ongoing today btw.
The Bible says there would be a last days apostasy, a falling away from the (true) faith. 2 Thessalonians 2:3. Today everywhere I go there are false prophets and false apostles in the churches. Even where I live they go house to house where people meet to hear the lastest lies. There are many cults too. They grew big time in the 1800's. such as Mormonism, Seventh Day Adventist, Roman Catholicism (Vatican council 2), Darwinism, Jehovah Witnesses, Christian Science, etc....
You “believe” Catholicism is a cult? Is there a single Christ religion that you see as not a cult?
Yes. Faith alone in Christ alone, by the word of God alone. How does one get faith? Answer: by believing the gospel ONLY. Paul says, "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received how that Christ died for our sins according TO THE SCRIPTURES: and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to THE SCRIPTURES." 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16. I fellowship with like minded. I would in no way want to do what God forbids and that is to be in false religion. That is called fornication and adultery to worship with other gods (false religion). That is why the Roman Catholic Church is called the Harlot. Not Christ's. Jesus is God~
Are LCMS Lutherans ok? Just kidding . Your point is well taken.
and here: https://www.thebereancall.org/content/lutherans-and-catholics-together
The problem with the Lutherans they FORGOT the Reformation, and have joined again with the Roman Catholic Church (the harlot Rev. 17. It was the Reformation that gave us Bible's to read. When they were printing Bibles they were burned at the stake, and the Bible's were burned by the Roman Catholic Church. How can we forget those brave men and women who died so we could have a Bible? You want to know what the Roman Catholic Church is like when it is in control look back at the Dark Ages 600 AD-1517 Ad, and also the Crusades. I read a very good book it is called "Washington in the Lap of Rome by Justin Dewey Fulton" Forwarded by Chris Pinto. In it you can see how America forgot why our country was founded and has allowed the Jesuits in every high office in the land including the churches. One of our founding fathers John Adams said, "FROM JOHN ADAMS TO THOMAS JEFFERSON 6 May, 1816
I do not like the late resurrection of the Jesuits. They have a general now in Russia, in correspondence with the Jesuits in the United States, who are more numerous than everybody knows. Shall we not have swarms of them here, in as many shapes and disguises as ever a king of the gypsies, Bampfylde Moore Carew himself, assumed? In the shape of printers, editors, writers, schoolmasters, etc..? I have lately read Pascal’s letters over again, and four volumes of the History of the Jesuits. If ever any congregation of men could merit eternal perdition on earth and in hell, according to these historians, though, like Pascal, true Catholics, it is this company of Loyola (Loyola was the leader of the Jesuits)." Today Russia is Orthodox that is still Catholic, its the state church and the Pope believes his has authority as a successor to Peter and as an apostle. The current pope is a Jesuit!
But the drug store would make you a coke soda (yup with cocaine in those days) to perk you up and clear up that flu. Coke syrup was still being sold OTC into the Eighties, without the coca, and only the older folk ordered it. Opium mixed with clay was a proven intestinal remedy. They did not have the myriads of drugs back then, but the few they had were valued, and there were more home remedies in those days.
There were more "true" Christians then too who took care of their own kids. The roaring 20's came just 10 years later and prohibition.
There were some pretty famous awesome pastors in 1910 too! Look at today and tell me if you know any?
Honestly - I don't know of any offhand. But it would be good if you could share :)
I still listen to J. Vernon McGee. I listen to Robert Congdon from CMI and others
And we were better off for it!
There was still addicts and it was NOT acceptable even then
“A century ago, scientists at a German pharmaceutical firm investigated a chemical modification to morphine that made it more palatable as a cough suppressant.”
“The Bayer Co., predecessor to today’s pharmaceutical giant, marketed its popular new remedy as “Heroin.” Although it worked against coughs caused by serious and then-common diseases such as tuberculosis and pneumonia, physicians and pharmacists soon noticed an unhappy side effect.”
“Patients required ever larger doses and were becoming increasingly dependent on the elixir. By 1912 it had emerged as a recreational drug among young men in New York City. Two years later, addicts were knocking at the doors of New York and Philadelphia hospitals in search of treatment.”
“From 1898 through to 1910, diamorphine was marketed under the trademark name Heroin as a non-addictive morphine substitute and cough suppressant. In the 11th edition of Encyclopædia Britannica (1910), the article on morphine states:
"In the cough of phthisis minute doses [of morphine] are of service, but in this particular disease morphine is frequently better replaced by codeine or by heroin, which checks irritable coughs without the narcotism following upon the administration of morphine."
In the US, the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act was passed in 1914 to control the sale and distribution of diacetylmorphine and other opioids, which allowed the drug to be prescribed and sold for medical purposes.
In 1924, the United States Congress banned its sale, importation, or manufacture. It is now a Schedule I substance, which makes it illegal for non-medical use in signatory nations of the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs treaty, including the United States.”
https://medicine.yale.edu/news/yale-medicine-magazine/article/from-cough-medicine-to-deadly-addiction-a-century/
____________________________________________________________________
You seriously need to do far far more research 🧐 🔬 instead of trying to prop up, the usage of such an evil horrible drug that has killed untold thousands of people. It has wrecked thousands and thousands of families.
Like so many drugs, just like the horrible passage of this horse-shit called “ medical marijuana.” sure it may relieve certain pain feelings and it’s because you’re high as a kite. Traded one addiction, for another.
"You seriously need to do far far more research"
bingo. Your whole post was/is spot on. Few know it. Fewer still will research it.
Poppies. Worn on the lapel every 11/11. My old vet's father grabbed the first bottle of penicillin off the line in NJ, Bayer. My vet was so proud. He brought my Newfound back from the dead, twice, how can I judge him. He was wonderful in crises.
Your comment, makes zero sense to me. Poppies worn on a lapel??? What!!!
“ my old vet father grabbed the first bottle of penicillin off the line in New Jersey Bayer” ????!?!?!!!! What in the hell is this??? Are you saying your father was a veterinarian or a veteran???? and what was he doing, standing on the manufacturing line owned by Bayer pharmaceuticals????!!!! Then you say he brought your Newfound back from the dead. NEW FOUND WHAT!!!!!!??????, He was wonderful in a crisis????
Jesus Christ guy you’re either stoned out of your mind, or crazy, or talking in some kind of code. Either way your an idiot.
Sorry about the cryptic post - I am an idiot on occasion. Poppies are harvested for opium, processed into heroin. There is an irony that the poppy is worn on the lapel in memory of fallen heroes, while a lot of Vietnam Vets went on to become heroin addicts. My old veterinarian who twice brought my Newfoundland dog (again my apologies) back from death's door, loved to tell the story of how his own father (who worked at Bayer during WWII when there was a big push to develop large quantities of easily transportable penicillin) obtained the first vial off the production line and brought it home. My comment made perfect sense to me, but I admit it was mental shorthand. And I am not a guy.
Poppies were worn on lapels in rememberance of Armistice Day (what we now call Veterans Day) 11/11/1918. I remember some charity giving (or selling) poppy lapel pins when I was a kid.
Absolutely. I believe you provide people with the information to allow them to make their own choices( just like vax informed consent). Some may chose to take the risks. Politicians incentivise by providing free needles, food, to keep the " lifestyle" supported. It's not a drug problem but a enabling problem. If someone steals to support this choice, then they need prison time. People like Hawkins could afford their choice and chose to take it to the limit-- death. You can't legislate behavior.
You’re so wrong about that. Look up San Francisco (where I assume you are) and the Barbary Coast. Drug use has resulted in the same misery for hundreds of years.
Sigmund Freud introduced cocaine into our daily routines - Coca-Cola, different wines, cigars, At the turn of the 20th century. Presidents drank the wine and smoked the cigars Aand everyone was cool with it. Freud was convinced that our military would be super efficient on cocaine – they wouldn’t need to sleep, they wouldn’t need to eat, and they would have an endless energy supply
They didn’t use cocaine but during Vietnam they used massive amounts of legal speed. It destroyed too many lives
Yeah 1910. Wonderful if you were a christian white male. My point being - you did not welcome others who were different but yet hardworking, you did not welcome differences of opinion. Enjoy your heroin. The gang chains now own the homes to your left and right. All the meth heads and junkies I know are white, christian, male and female. So good to be better than everyone else? You were born into freedom and took advantage of that. Incentives you might have missed in your imperialistic goggles.
If you could back this argument with any proof that would be great. You have no clue what went on in 1910. To say only white Christian males prospered us a ridiculous stereotype. That only white people are addicts is even more absurd. Not sure where your from, but come to my hometown and I’ll show you addicts of all colors and nationalities.
Pre-WWI were not good times for many. Women only got the right to vote in 1920, but only white women. Black women would not get to vote until 1965, after the Civil Rights Act. Up to that time, non-whites were segregated and discriminated against, unable to quality for mortgages, and lynched for no reason, pretty common knowledge. Jewish immigrants were marginalized, stereotyped, mistrusted and subject to overt antisemitism. Research the lynching of Leo Frank. Jews were not allowed to hold public office in NH until 1928. So yes - 1910 was a great time only if you were a white christian male. Drug abuse has soared in the white population in the past 20 years, which is why it is only now recognized as an "epidemic" and a "problem". Here's a good article with demographics: https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/3/23/14987892/opioid-heroin-epidemic-charts.
Just an aside here: Using vox to back up any argument or position is a losing strategy. Just saying.
I'll take one step further and add that giving women the vote - black or white - is arguably one of the contributors to our crumbling culture and social order.
Before the modern drug laws, it was estimated that 25% of Americans were addicted -- especially to opium, which was in everything. You want Jamaica; we had Jamaica.
How many addicts we now have and how many are dying from unregulated street drugs? Government is not the answer but responsibility is. The market will never leave us, so why are we farming it out not allowing corporations inside this country to distribute it with legal responsibility? We have laws against behavior that affects society, DUI, etc, but why laws to protect us from ourselves? When will they start protecting me from sugar consumption, risky behavior like rock climbing, sky diving, irresponsible sex on the back seat of my car? Ruining my kids lives by sending them to public schools.
Oh stop, "responsibility is" you are assuming everyone has self discipline, and everyone can deal with emotional/physical pain - addict's destroy families not only themselves. You are incredibly naive.
However many addicts we have now, it ain't 80 million.
Then what is it?
What ever it is you have to be able to define addict. It has certainly increased since 15 days to slow the spread ( possibly doubled ) Most people believe that addicts are those hopeless individuals that are in tents on the streets. I would argue that's the tip of the iceberg. 1-2 million who truely need intervention and help. 40-60 million high functioning who are on the slow lane to a highway to hell. We have 1000s of things we can be addicted to. Don't ask me how I know.
I don't think it should be hard to create a system where doing drugs is legal, but robbing people or shitting on the street is not. You're never going to save someone when you care more about their wellbeing than they do.
Seems easy enough. I was always libertarian on drug use, but I’ve come to realize in this country it’s impossible. The state will ultimately be required to care for these people and there addiction. Like everything it becomes a public crisis, and the do-gooders in government need to have solutions. Solutions that only compound the problem by design. Thus you need more government to correct the problems they created. Soon you have entire beuracracies created, full of the usual corruption and cronyism as everything else in this country. Now the actual addict becomes just a prop in a government created money scheme that exists simply for its ability to enrich and create livelihoods for people that create absolutely nothing.
Not to be totally heartless, but if the issue is drug use, you can just drive people out to the middle of nowhere and tell them good luck. No jail but also you're also not encouraging the issue. If they want to come back to the city or town, they can, but if they don't clean up, they'll face the same situation over and over. The person has the opportunity at any point to turn it around without having to pay significantly for past sins.
Insightful perspective.
When I was teaching, I used to tell myself all the time when I encountered apathetic students who would not respond to any kind of motivational effort on my part - "you can't care more about this student's education than they do".
This exact thought used to be in my head in the ER at 2am - "Of the two of us, the doctor (me) and the patient (you), why do I seem to be the only one who cares about your health?"
Okay. I’m just going to have to take a nap. What JH and The Beach is My Bliss and now you, Fla Mom, have said…..well, I’m just going to have to do all your pearls of wisdom up on a pillow in needle point.
Well, you’re blowing me away as well. I’m always a day late and a dollar short…….your students obviously had a pearl in you. I’m now going to go sit on a stump and contemplate…..something……..
Ah, the answer of someone without an educated retort. When you can’t reply with facts and debate, you resort to insults.
What an unkind thing to say to someone.
OMG!, Did you just think of that 2nd sentence…..Did you just coin a saying? It’s so perfect……it’s making my brain hurt because it’s so profound in Its simplicity. Thank you for that.
Ah Denise, do you truly have nothing better to do on a Saturday night than choose 4 or 5 responses with thoughtful reply, and add your own sad insulting retorts? Are you really hurting that much that you have to try and hurt others?
Dawn, I really meant what I was saying. I wasn’t being sarcastic or insulting.
I didn't read Denise's comments as insulting. She sounded appreciative of comments that caused her to think about them ....
Oh, thank you so much.
Yes but that doesn't pay so good . Drug dealers pay better bribes. Street shitters don't .
Not sure I agree with this. I'd argue that the caring and compassion of others has been shown to pull people out of their state of apathy, and even saved their lives (eg, from suicide and/or overdose).
Remove jail from that list, as it has proven counterproductive for drug users. Rehab and/or mental health therapy are the only solutions. Yet somehow, governments refuse to spend money on those. Go figure.
Because none of them work. The addict has to want to quit some can’t sad but true.
The addicted must want out. Here is thee conundrum: Deeply addicted folks are literal slaves to their addictions and cannot think of anything except what they have to do, beg or steal, to get their next fix. Their primary purpose is to score and cop. A 7 Day medical detox will provide the first layer of separation from the streets and drugs. At this point, they have to make a decision. “Do you want to make the change? Do you want to live free of this horrible existence? Are you Willing to fight for your life”? And make no mistake about it our fellow citizens are fighting for their lives. What if it were your child? Your brother? Your sister? Your Mom or Dad? What if it were you? You who got hooked on a pain med after a car crash? I am no bleeding heart but I know this much, I will do what I can to help others until they can help themselves as long as they are honest about wanting out.
I will fight to the death to wipe out drug dealers and lend a hand to the drunk or addict in the street.
We can do better than make more poison legal and just fire up the addiction and the certain follow on rip roaring crime wave.
Well said. "I will fight to the death to wipe out drug dealers." - does this include the opioid-providing pharmaceutical industry?
At this point in my life I make no separation from a back yard produced pharma cartel, a Mexican pharma cartel or a corporate pharma cartel.
They have all showed they value profit over human life.
Purdue Pharma can never proportionally repay for the full harm they and others unleashed but they have been made to pay via civil due process. Criminals wantonly selling drugs are outliers for whom I hold no mercy.
While Pharma has somewhat "paid", opioids are still somehow being prescribed outside hospital settings. Until that practice ends, the problem won't end. As to street dealers, consider the ways in which the system has contributed to this problem (ie, racial, socioeconomic, and now vax-status discrimination, etc), preventing certain segments of society from obtaining living-wage work. This issue is very complex.
It's as much because our current mental health repair tools are actually pretty useless and rubbish.
I am also mindful that many of the homeless addicts are suffering mental health issues as a result of being sent to fight wars that do nothing but enrich the political class.
"Computer says No" bureaucracy creates cracks a mile wide for the vulnerable to fall through rather than receiving any meaningful help.
Alas the physical brain damage caused by drug addiction can push many past the point where they are salvageable even if they do want to quit.
The problem is those who are addicted to power and control such as prohibitionists and others who oppose the principle of individual rights, the principle upon which this country was founded. Rick aka Freedom_First(at)verizon(dot)net
I don't hear "individual responsibility" or "civil society" as part of that equation. If people have the individual right to be drug addicts and alcoholics and to make themselves sick and disgusting and unfit for work or good neighborliness, then people who don't live that kind of life have the individual right to not subsidize them and not tolerate their presence in well-groomed and orderly neighborhoods.
You've nailed it. If they want to exercise their right to be a worthless piece of shit, see how long they can live when cut off from all subsidies and are incarcerated for the crimes they commit.
Yes, as things stand there is every incentive for them to continue. I myself was once, regretfully, involved in coddling an addict right to death. Thinking every lifeline would be the one they used to climb up and out, when everything was just another stepping stone to the next binge.
How about just cut off the subsidies.
Why so quick to incarcerate people?
Follow my advice. See above
This is laughably ignorant. Hate to break it to you, but Rush Limbaugh lived in a well-groomed, orderly neighborhood. So did Prince. Michael Jackson. Philip Seymour Hoffman. Winston Churchill. Ernest Hemingway. Sigmund Freud. Tiger Woods. John Fitzgerald Kennedy. ALL addicts. The presence of addiction in well-groomed, orderly neighborhoods is at least as common as it is in the streets.
Addiction cuts across all demographics, it’s an equal opportunity destroyer of lives and of families, and I’m guessing we’ve got a ticking time-bomb on our hands, as the psychological toll from the isolation generated by the pandemic has almost certainly increased relapses while minting new addicts.
Lastly, addicts don’t have a desire to be addicts, nor is it an achievement to which anyone has ever aspired. An addict who is high will tell you he wants to get better, and plans to start tomorrow. Tomorrow hits and when the w/ds kick in, that thought goes out the window, and now the ONLY thing in the addicts’ life is getting what is needed to feel normal again. It’s not a moral character issue.
Thank you for providing that much-needed perspective to this (sadly) myopic comment thread. I find it interesting how a group of people (ie these subscribers to Alex B) have been able to see through the covid propaganda, yet haven't seen through the "drug war" propaganda.
The list of notables in your first paragraph do not present a societal problem. They're not shitting in the streets, panhandling, robbing people, etc., and they had or have the means to maintain themselves in their addictions. (Certainly cavalier medical and pharma malpractice that led some of them to a state of addiction should be addressed as legislative or criminal matters, but that's a different discussion.)
When gateway drug and alcohol use is considered no big deal or a right, then guess what? A lot of kids and young adults and old farts will choose to use them rather than deal with shyness or loneliness or anxiety or voices in their heads or whatever. And they don't have the means to maintain themselves in their addictions. And when they become addicted and receive "safe" drug-use packages from the government and no-questions-asked monthly allowance and a tent from the enablers, and an occasional 2-week (useless) or 4-week (equally useless) stay in a rehab facility without the need to change anything in their behavior, they ARE a societal problem.
You say nobody wants to be an addict or a drunk. Well nobody wants to be held hostage by addicts or drunks.
As one from a family comprised of both, the ones who overcame did so with abstinence, tough love, and the desire to keep whatever good they had in their lives. The ones who did not overcome could not be helped no matter how much help they received.
This argument presumes addiction is a choice. Sure, the person had the choice to never try the drug(s) to begin with, but consider the reason(s) they did. What was going on in their life at the time? What personal demons were they fighting? What traumas had they endured? Etc. Point being, as is the case with most everything, it's a complex issue, for which there is no simple solution.
I agree 100% that everyone has a right to not subsidize others. I don't know what you mean by "not tolerate their presence". I don't tolerate anyone who advocates the use of violence against peaceful human beings who have never harmed anyone which includes all drug fighters and illegalizers.
With rights need come responsibility. Control yourself from within or be controlled from without.
I agree 100%. Thank you
"Because none of them work." - That's a pretty absolutist and defeatist statement. While it's true rehab/therapy doesn't work for some, it absolutely does work for others. If it didn't, it would no longer exist.
I'd say labor camps in rural areas are better than jail and the touchy feely BS rehab places. Put them to work, teach them a marketable skill and they might have a chance.
I get your point, but I wouldn't call them "labor camps," as that conjures up images of internment camps, which haven't gone over well historically. ;)
Rehab is a joke. Rehab does not work. Rehab? Pointless. The only recourse? Villages of storage unit construction 20 miles from the nearest town. Rehab does not work. Those who think it does are beating a dead horse. For god sake give the mentality ill and addicts help if they comply. Otherwise remove them and give them ...Free food. Free daily "meds"... if... they do 2 to 3 hours of work cleaning the kitchen or showers. They can not be helped ... our society has tried over and over but nothing works. ... we can continue to pretend to help ... to keep people from objecting....just keep the homeless out of towns and cities. Out... gone... 👀 look
...we work hard. We pay the taxes to have nice cities. Tolerance is fine. But not in our cities. What is happening now guarantees votes get shoveled to the right wing. Liberals must see the common sense of these remote villages. The alternative? Blue states that vote red. Proof? DeSantis will win the next election. It's a shoe in. Homeless and gender confused swimmers will win this for DeSantis. The homeless situation has gone on too long.... it has people fed up
It's not just homeless and gender confused swimmers that guarantee a win for DeSantis. The left - in one short year in power - has driven our country into the ground. The speed of their accomplishments is mind boggling. People have had enough.
I pray you are correct. If we can just keep them from stealing elections
It didn't take a year. It took a century of hard work done under the radar. It's just that when the end comes It comes like falling asleep, or falling in love: slowly, then all at once.
From 1963, as read into the Congressional Record:
" ... I include in the RECORD, under unanimous consent, the following "Current Communist Goals,"
which she identifies as an excerpt from "The Naked Communist," by Cleon Skousen:
22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was
told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."
23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art."
24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.
25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion
pictures, radio, and TV.
26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, and healthy."
27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for
intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."
28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of
"separation of church and state." (Remember these goals were published to expose them in 1958) Coincidence?
29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to
cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.
30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man."
31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a
minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.
32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture--education, social agencies,
welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.
38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric
disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand [or treat].
39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who
oppose Communist goals.
40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.
41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and
retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.
42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and
special-interest groups should rise up and use ["] united force ["] to solve economic, political or social problems.
<<<<< I do believe they've succeeded in all the above areas >>>>>
- and then there's Gramsci's long march through the institutions. Check.
- Margaret Sanger's eugenicist policies, alive and well in planned parenthood clinics, conveniently placed in the poorest communities. Check.
- The literal wiping out of history combined with teaching that America is "bad". Check.
I agree, we are at the "all at once" part of the equation. I saw it coming but I know very few who did or even cared enough to take a look at the big picture.
Oh geese that's what I was afraid of. Knee jerk Fox 🦊 "news" reactions to what I wrote is going to guarantee the failure if the right wing. Look at the next comment upon. Blather about stolen ejections. Biden is nothing to write home about but he certainly did not run the nation into the ground. Trump did that all on his own. A fool has fools for followers. Can't tell reality from fantasy. Typical.
Give Biden time. It's only been a year. And based on his current trajectory, it's not looking good for him (despite how much the Left tries to backpedal before midterms).
Why don't you stop typing and go stick your head back up your ass.
ndwhich particular planet are you living on?
Yep.
All talk, no action--mentally, even emotionally, you and "people" you mention may have "had enough," but not the physical--until then, keep bloviating, you're reaching a dead country...
You're a ray of sunshine. It's not dead yet, Jim.
how uplifting. why are you still here?
Rehab by court order or drug court agreement is only 30 days when at least 6 months is needed. Insurance usually only covers 30 days. My father-in-law ran a program in Boston in the 70s & 80s and my husband always says how hitting bottom is necessary along with intention to succeed along with support to STAY in the program for months. Too many ppl use the system and court-ordered 30-day rehabs as a weigh station. They call it “spin dry.” They go in as a last resort or as a respite from getting fired, repo’ed , child support, evictions, etc, then they come back out and use again as they never had the intention to stop.
More than the homeless situation having people fed up, I'd say it was the useless and harmful covid "mitigation" measures... and the bungled Afghanistan withdrawal (yes, we needed to withdraw, but not in that manner)... and the rampant censorship of opposing viewpoints... and the creeping totalitarianism (digital IDs, centralized digital currency, Google/Apple/Microsoft/Amazon spying)... and higher gas prices (due to Biden's sanctions on Russia - which are hurting Americans more than Russians)... and his refusal to negotiate a peace deal with Putin (because a prolonged war means more $$$ for the MIC)... and the Hunter laptop fiasco. For these reasons (and more), Congress will flip to red in the midterms, and the Oval will flip to red in 2024.
I absolutely believe the Democrat's election cheating machine was in full force during the last election and I have no reason to believe it won't be again for the midterms and the '24 election. If it were a fair election with an accurate and truthful vote count, I think we'd see numbers that would leave no doubts in anyone's mind that the supposed 81 million votes for Biden were pure fiction.
I don't believe we will ever see a fair and honest election again in my lifetime.
I agree. And I go back and forth on this because I also believe both of W. Bush's elections were rigged, but I don't believe Trump's 2016 was (or else Hillary would've "won"). Sometimes I think the whole election system is a farce, other times I think it's legit. But I keep voting anyway, just in case. ;)
Lol, the typical drug user does rehab 7 or 8 times before they finally kill themselves anyway. Look it up. Rehab is just a pricey pit stop. For extra credit, look up how very profitable those rehab centers are and the (real, not PR) stats on how "successful" their programs really are. The only thing that will save a user, is the user themselves. Many are called, few have chosen.
How are they supposed to save themselves without professional help?
Well, "professionals" never have concious or unconscious detrimental or self-serving agendas, mental problems of their own, are never drunk on power or just plain incompetent or out for themselves or anything like that! Heck, that "professional" six year sit on your ass and parrot back Degree in Whatever makes them damn near infallible! That degree that grants them total control and power over the lives of anyone that happens to fall under the scope of their uber knowledgeable beneficence - what could go wrong? "Mental health "professionals" are so caring and impressive that they generally have armies of minimum wage slaves beneath them that actually do the gritty, real stuff involved in corralling and directing and "helping" their charges and most importantly- RECORDING AND DOCUMENTING THE QUITE OFTEN BOGUS, HOWEVER MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF BILLIABLE HOURS involved in "caring for others." And that's just my very brief intro to your question.The mental health system is beyond imperfect, it's exploitive to the max.
Sure, not all therapists are saintly, but dismissing them all for the bad deeds of a few is throwing the baby out with the bathwater. It sounds like you've personally been victimized by one (or more), but I can personally attest to the fact there are good ones out there.
“Typical drug user”
“7/8 times”.
That’s fucking laughable.
What world do you live in where your “typical drug user” can afford rehab. Get your head out of the clouds. Your “typical drug user” gets locked up in prison for non violent crimes.
Wow. Bit more concerned with what world you're living in.
The real world
True TeeJae. Addiction is finally being accepted as a mental health issue, rather than a straight up crime. AA (a 12 step Christian program) had benefited tens of thousands. It may not work for everyone, but it works. Mercy and forgiveness go a long way in helping those who need and want help. But you have to want the help. And sometimes that means hitting rock bottom.
It's well-established that addiction is a symptom of loneliness, and little else. It's not a mental health issue, or a crime. The cure for addiction is community, and community grows when compassion fuels empathy.
Not true. Please provide citations. Addiction is an end to paths from abuse, self-soothing, lack of compassion. In fact - when community declines, addiction inclines. Loneliness was Jesus in the desert. Please do not equate loneliness with mental health issues, because you need to put them in a tidy box.
Loneliness and lack of community create mental health issues. Here is a TED talk about the rat park studies which establish that loneliness leads to addiction and not vice versa: https://www.ted.com/talks/johann_hari_everything_you_think_you_know_about_addiction_is_wrong/transcript
More on the Rat Park: https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Rat_Park
I would agree loneliness is a factor, but not the primary one. While community and compassion are indeed helpful, I've seen with my own sister-in-law (who suffers from a severe lack of self-worth/esteem because of childhood trauma), all the love in the world makes no difference if the addict does not love themself. That IS, in fact, a mental health issue. Moreover, the "cure" must also include overcoming the physical withdrawal symptoms (depending on the drug).
It's not about loving yourself (more liberal mush mouth nonsense). It's about RESPECTING yourself.
You’re splitting hairs.
"not a mental health issue"
It's loneliness lol
True. It's a more complex/nuanced issue than many people realize.
How about the punishment of caning like they have in Singapore? Do you think that would have any affect? I think it's worth a try.
Long term in-patient care run by addicts seems to have the best results. Dems closed them down
Addiction is a mental health issue. Punishment in any form does not work.
Do you have any evidence to back that up other than personal feelings? The threat of losing a good job got me to straighten up, now 37 years clean and sober.
People make these grand statements that sound good but just aren't true. Punishment (or threat thereof) absolutely does lead some to clean up their act. It may not be the best method, but saying it flat out just does not work is ridiculous.
While were at it, making a blanket pronouncement that it's a "mental health issue" is absurd. It may be for some, but many just swore it off one day and have been sober ever since. Try that with schizophrenia.
The mental health community is complicit in that they frame the addict in terms of victimhood, along with many other "disorders".
Amen. My ex is an alcoholic. My son has schizophrenia. I have seen both in action. Alkies and druggies have a choice which involves pain and they refuse to suffer and will gladly bring the world down with them.
Jeff - your story is my older sister's story. Same scenario. Except she's 42 years sober. My other sister, who had a revolving door through rehab and inpatient treatment, fully paid and never denied, never stayed sober a minute after discharge. Finally, in her mid-fifties, she was diagnosed with something that responded to a drug used for schizophrenia, and she stopped drinking. Unfortunately, her broken body died at age 61.
These are completely different situations and outcomes, even though these are sisters. You are absolutely correct: "making a blanket pronouncement that it's a "mental health issue" is absurd. It may be for some, but many just swore it off one day and have been sober ever since."
Obviously I can't speak for all, but in my case I believe it's a genetic predisposition coupled with a moral failing. Alcoholism runs rampant through my family as it does for many addicts. But even more so, I have never met an active addict that did not think he/she was the center of the universe (self included). That's what I mean by a moral failing.
If one has any spent any time with an active addict, more than likely they will find the addict an ammoral scuzball. Lying is second nature, cheating and stealing aren't far behind. The more someone shows love and compassion to an addict, the more that person is likely to be victimized by them. There is a selfishness that is hard to describe as it's so extreme. The addict and his/her needs are the center of the universe, no one else matters. Ego is off the charts, while paradoxically at the same time self-esteem is in the toilet. (Speaking from experience here.)
That's why AA and the twelve steps works. The whole point of the steps is to break that selfish moral failure, and for the addict to realize there is a power greater than them (God) that they are accountable to. At the same time, the addict also comes to realize that they aren't a worthless piece of crap, but that they are loved. It's a complete change of outlook from being an egotistical, entitled loser, to being a humble, grateful winner (metaphorically speaking). Maybe you can call that "mental health" but I don't, it's more of a radical change in thinking and perspective.
Something though, needs to prompt the addict to longer want to live like this. Like I said, for me it was a potential job loss (threat of punishment). But while I attended AA I came to realize that what they were saying made an awful lot of sense. I also came to realize that it's pretty much exactly what the bible teaches.
Edit: fix typo
If mental health issues were not at the root of your sisters' addictions, what was? Being "cured" by a schizophrenia drug sounds like a mental health issue to me.
Congrats on your 37 years, but unlike you, many addicts have lost their jobs (and/or families), so that "threat of punishment" obviously did not work for them. Punishment can be a bandaid/temporary fix to change some behavior, but it doesn't resolve the underlying root cause. It's Behavioral Psychology 101. One blatant example is the prison recidivism rate (for both addicts and other criminals).
Behavioral psychology, aka behavior modification is in large part part of the reason we find ourself as a culture in serious trouble. It's behind the whole "everyone deserves a trophy" BS ...and so much more. Punishment for bad behavior is much more effective when seeking to modify behavior, despite what contemporary psychology tells us.
I disagree. It's a personal choice issue. "It's not their fault. They have mental health issues." is also not working and people are getting rich who own "treatment facilities." Some people do become addicted due to mental issues but personal choice trumps victimhood
Addiction has recently been recognized as a medical disease, rendering the "personal choice" argument null & void.
Recognized by what authority? ...and why do grant them legitimacy with this claim? Further, what about that claim by the psychiatric community *authorities* that addiction was a psychological condition? What's happened to that declaration? And why the shift? What happens when the current "disease declaration" is declared no longer valid? I caution you to be judicious when granting authority to so-called "experts" when it is clear nothing is written in stone, or necessarily valid.
How about the punishment of caning for all drug fighters and gun grabbers? I think it's worth a try.
The recidivism rate for drug addiction is off the charts. Alcoholism too. Incentives like prison are necessary unfortunately. Gone is shame which is also a motivating deterrent.
"Incentives like prison"? Seriously? What about the PRISON recidivism rate?
I too had a libertarian view when I was in my 20’s, but I had an alcoholic husband for 8 years (who had done drugs in his teens) and a father in the the government in vocational rehabilitation. My father worked with drug and rehab professionals and they tell you that not all people who smoke pot move to hard drugs, but nearly all narcotics addicts start as pot users.
What we have is a society suffering from ennui. A crisis of meaning. Ennui is a soul sucking boredom and lack of purpose brought on by modern life. No father in Heaven, no hope for the future.
In the end, it is a spiritual issue.
Yes, 100% agree.
Whatever you want to call it, ennui or otherwise, what we have is a society of dysfunctional people raising dysfunctional children. We are producing broken people who turn to drugs as a way to escape, not the other way around. The dysfunction is the result of the nanny state (big government) assuming the place of parents and the responsibility of parents in society. Your Libertarian instincts in your youth were correct, but you've exchanged the virtues of individual liberty and self reliance (these things are inseparable) for excuses to escape the consequences of your own choices in life, I'm afraid.
Yes, being a free people, we must understand that to have rights one must accept the responsibility of self governance. Our nation of the USA was founded upon the Protestant ethics of self governance. Without a moral people our republic fails. I think John Adams said something to that effect.
Hence the axiom that freedom is not free. Neocons like Berenson have long mistaken that sentiment to be a call to military or government action. That is not and never was what it was supposed to mean. It means that there is a price to freedom. That price is personal accountability and responsibility (self reliance). You cannot have one without the other. We may choose to fight for freedom against an oppressor, but of course, these days the oppressors at our doorsteps are our own politicians and fellow citizens, not foreign governments.
That's not what happened. Thousands of people are not living in tents because the drug laws weren't stiff enough. They are living in tents and continuing a life of addiction because they have been incentivized by the state or city government to do so with free food and other subsidies. Most of the people now living in those tents didn't start out in that place, they migrated to it because of the government handouts and incentives to do so.
It's known as bleeding heart liberalism. A pox on all civil societies.
Yes, or as I like to call it, the nanny state.
Not only subsidies, but just the complete unwillingness to punish vagrants that camp on streets sleeping in there own piss and shit. Surrounded by there trash and throwing used needles all over the place. The absurdity of having vagrants camping in front of stores that hard working people are forced to follow a million restrictions, pay all kinds of taxes just to operate them, would be laughable if it wasn’t so sad. Some government flunky can come in a business and fine or even shut the business down for the most minuscule deviations to there rules. Meanwhile, these bums just build shanty towns right on there sidewalks, no inspections, no permits. No fees or taxes owed. It’s a joke.
Yep, and what's even crazier is that in those places, most of those business owners vote for leftists who support that shit. It's hard to feel too sorry for them as they get the government they effectively endorse.
amen
And they think we are idiots for doing this for them and they are correct.
Yeah, sadly - the left especially- people think that empathy is how they prove they are a good person. And the way they make themselves feel good and worthwhile is by ultimately enabling the destructive behavior of others.
Yes. And it is quite possible to be empathetic about anothers pain without "helping" them to stay stuck in it. It is hard and uncomfortable just to be "with" someone as they do the struggling they have to do in order to move through a bad place. It is too easy and selfish just to throw a bandaid on it and think you have solved the problem when in fact you just prolonged it. People need to start thinking beyond slogans and sound bites again
I was at a cocktail party with Newt Gingrich in 94’ when he was speaker of the house…… he told the small gathering (25 people) that Americans don’t want to stop the drug flow- because we could eliminate it overnight if we had the political willpower. Hang drug dealers on the border anyone caught with a commercial amount of drugs on their person would be hanged immediately. Overnight you would see the end of the drug trade……..
Americans would rather talk about enforcement - which is why we have a drug problem and Thailand does not…..
Politicians know that Americans are not willing to do what is necessary to stop drugs being smuggled and as a result 100,000+ Americans a year are needlessly killed by drugs..
Zooming out to an even broader perspective, one can see all the levels of the INjustice system that financially benefit from the “war on drugs.” From the cops on the street, to the lawyers, bail bondsmen, judges and private prisons, the corruption knows no bounds. Between that and the fact that many of the Elites themselves partake, the govt will never find the “political will” to legalize drugs.
Thailand has a terrible drug problem. Yaa-baa (amphetamine) is endemic.
The dealers face harsh punishment. The importers face death. The users face kind and loving rehabilitation, as the users are treated as the victims of a public health problem.
It's not like the Fentanyl problem in the US, but it's been a serious problem for decades.
When I first moved to Thailand in 2001, then Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, was having a war on drugs. The King had instructed the Kingdom be drug free by his next birthday.
So, open warfare in the streets. Over 3,500 died. Every night on the news, a Honda Civic riddled with holes, pills in the boot (trunk) and blokes splayed out on the ground, also riddled with holes, a conveniently placed handgun a foot from the dead man's hand.
Then a kid got caught in the crossfire and it ceased.
Years later, recreational divers found shipping containers full of human remains off the coast at Sattahip (there's a naval base there) and it's suspected these were the people who disappeared during this campaign.
My brother-in-law's a victim of this stuff. He was a bright kid at school. He's now a zombie who can barely speak, rarely does. He's also quite dangerous. He has a tattoo along his hairline on his forehead, written in Khmer.
He doesn't know what it says.
Which is the problem of history and the lesson that is never learned. Government force always results in the opposite of its intended outcome over time. Killing those on the supply side doesn't solve the problem on the demand side. Something or someone is always going to fill the void. People like to pretend they're capable of solving problems with their "will" when they can't even identify the root cause accurately. Just fighting fires while they're feeding the flames. So damn much of that nonsense on both sides of the aisle because at the end of the day both sides aren't actually committed to liberty, they're committed to imposing their way on the masses.
Sounds like the authoritarian Newt. Actually, if neocons like Newt had the political willpower to end the welfare and warfare state, we could end this problem, though it wouldn't be overnight thanks to the carnage Newt style big government as wrought over the last half century or more.
Using bogeyman words like authoritarian and neocon really does nothing to undercut the point that Americans don't have the political willpower or that hangings would stop the behavior. The man does have a point.
When one endorses hangings for those engaging in illegal commerce, commerce only the government is allowed to engage in of course, words like authoritarian and neocon are apt descriptors, not bogeyman words.
You must be from Oregon. I escaped last year.
Close! I'm in a neighboring state.
WA, OR, CA .....all now cesspools due to leftist policies.
The problem is the states are so beautiful, but Idaho is really sounding appealing after the Covid governance in these liberal bastions.
Boise is well on its way to becoming Seattle, if the people living there don’t put a stop to it now...
Grand Forks North Dakota: a mostly unnoticed Chinese influx: China's Belt-And-Road Comes To America's Heartland, Part 1: The Peculiar Story of Fufeng Group And Grand Forks https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/chinas-belt-and-road-comes-americas-heartland-part-1-peculiar-story-fufeng-group-and
Liberalism is almost as contagious as Omicron. 😉
They're not that beautiful. Sure, they're very green....thanks to endless gloomy and rainy days. But sure, when the sun is shinning, which is a minority of the time, the natural landscape sure can be pretty. Lots of other places in the country are very naturally beautiful too, without all the gray.....or Democrats.
I like the rainy days... but the liberal policies are making us look elsewhere. It's shocking how much power the governor had over us because of Covid.
Yes.
Orrr.. stop
The subsidies.. you had me in your first paragraph. Then you completely explained the real issue after you said “so what happened”.
What happened was the state got involved.
You now support the state. The true cause of your problems.
True and I agree for state involvement has always been the problem issue with my perspective. However, it seems to be a better road then we are now on. 🤷♂️ I did say we need to think - brainstorm - a better option than we currently provide. Prison and tents funded by tax payers and provided by greedy government officials who scrap theirs of the top can not be the best way to deal.
Which came first, the fentanyl chicken or economic collapse egg for the working and middle class?
Lack of mental health services is also a contributing factor.
The lack is that of meaning and purpose. The decay of the family unit, church and community. Societal narcissism
For sure, the foundations upon which our societies built have crumbled to dust. This is the end result.
The massive welfare/warfare state came first. The rest is the predictable result.
Partly. A lot of that welfare's been corporate welfare. Lobbying and political corruption, guaranteed decline and eventual fall of empires.
Wall Street been thieving for years. Gutted the place out.
Yeah, that's what's called regulatory capture but it's also different. That's government basically picking winners and losers in the business marketplace and erecting barriers to competition, but at least those businesses still provide some productive value and ultimately contribute more to the coffers than they take.
The welfare state is largely the single mother state, where the government has replaced the father in the home, thereby destroying the nuclear family and creating a bunch of dysfunctional people who are dependent on government which secures and grows their political power. That dysfunction is then largely responsible for the ever growing drug problems because broken people look for ways to escape their realities rather than pursue goals that are personally fulfilling and that ultimately benefit society.
You ain't wrong.
Fellow Oregonian. The law you’re describing went into effect only a year ago, and what rice described has existed for more than a decade. The “thousands of people now living in tents” you have described is Portland, which I constantly have to remind people from Portland is not all of Oregon.
It's not all of Oregon but it does tend to dictate the politics for all of Oregon.
Seattle?
Decriminalization alone will never be our countries best fit for what is a current state of drug use. Having spent much of life hiding as criminals, people will like go to where there is a less likeliness of arrest and herding off to lock up. Instead of using the tons and tons and tons of funds taken from us under the bullshit banner of fighting drug use and attempting to rake in more wasted money under taxation, our government could provide a better answer. Yet we are stuck without a progressive thought and stuck in the Nixon era beginning of druggies are criminals. From one administration to the next, it’s never changed. Get the federal government out could be a positive first step and try to help people live and not push them into cardboard boxes or concrete cells an additional. Use something God gave us, an ability to think, outside the same old dumbass proverbial box. This country has fallen into a never ending sheeple line. Not persecute is another answer. Instead of building mansion for politicians, try housing for people; instead of sending non skilled labor jobs over seas, incentivize companies here to hire people without a bullshit drug test. Everything is currently wrong.
In states where it is completely legal, the problems of drug addiction are the worse. What point are you trying to make? I lived near Portland and saw the city turn into a shit hole over the course of several years.
I think my point should be there: use all the wasted tax money to set up rehabs-housing-labor jobs and stop what is going on. And, be open to coming up with stuff better than jail.
This: "I think my point should be there: use all the wasted tax money to set up rehabs-housing-labor jobs and stop what is going on." ....is pie in the sky, unicorn farts and rainbows thinking. At the very least, if we want big daddy government to step in then they should all be quarantined separate and apart from society until they can clean up and live among people who aren't fuckups. How's that for out of the box thinking?
This is pie in the sky thinking. They are beginning to do what you say in California. Building places at 500k-A million a housing unit. You think this will help 1 homeless addict??? Your crazy. It’s just another con that will make developers rich off of taxpayer subsidies. It will empower beauracrats. Meanwhile the actual junkies will be used as props in this money game.
Are you referring to the project in San Fran? It's my understanding that rehab and (eventually) getting a job are requirements in order to keep the apartment. Since this is a new strategy, it's impossible to know the ultimate outcome, but it would be nice to see it succeed.
it actually would not be nice if it suceeds. Why should homeless junkies be given the keys to apartments that many of the working people around them cant afford, yet have to subsidize. I can appreciate your rosy outlook, youre obviously an optimist. But I will bet you that it is a scam that will fail to achieve its objective. Junkies can not be helped unless they want to get help. A shiney new building is just putting lipstick on a turd. I live in Broward county Florida, they are constantly building section 8 apartments for the "poor". Like an earlier person said they all turn to shitholes within a few years. I dont have pictures, because why would I take a picture of a shithole apartment complex, so believe me or dont believe me.
It is very possible to know the outcome. In my town a beautiful new set of apartment buildings went up, promoted as the be-all end-all in tackling the homeless/druggie problem/population. Less that 5 years later the place is a shit hole, with broken windows, graffiti on every exposed surface, trash on the ground, and a complete eyesore. A place to detour around --- especially at night.
I live just outside Boston (MA's been 100% legal for a few years now), and have seen no such thing. The myth that ease of availability leads to addiction is propaganda from the Nixon era, and was debunked long ago.
All of your suggested "solutions" have already been tried in progressive West Coast cities. All have not only failed, they have made the problem demonstrably worse.
The problems are far too complex for a simple "give them money and housing" response. Far from thinking outside the box, "just give everyone everything and let them do what they want" is the liberal response to every problem. It is the solution to none of the problems.
So most of the comments here seems to avoid my point about sheeple thinking and following the current way of locking people up. Is this the fit we should live with - Lock Them Up.
Nixon era reference is not bullshit - classifying pot as a drug like heroin is bullshit. And why should you or anyone care what I put in my body? Why should I be forced to pay for policing people harming themselves? A victimless crime is more than a cliche’. Using our wasted tax money to contain these people and allow them to harm themselves yet maintain some kind of life has not been tried, anywhere. Stop the fantasy bullshit and look around. Seems like the original comment was people existing in cardboard boxes or tents, tents provided by tax payers. Congressmen (and women) get super fking wealthy on tax money and using their power to extort (but that’s a different subject). So leave it how it is: our money buys mansions for people who do nothing much more than keep us down and send tents to homeless victims, victims of wanting some kind mindless peace. By the way, our federal government is pushing us all toward a similar government depended life, similar. Wake up.
I object to the idea that providing free money and housing will fix the problem. That doesn’t mean I think we should “lock them all up”.
I agree with you that government squanders money. That does not make eliminating consequences for bad life choices a good idea.
Which cities? Can you provide citations?
No. I don’t play the “fact check” game.
Feel free to refute my claim by providing examples of cities that implemented progressive policies that worked to reduce the homeless population.
If you cannot provide supporting evidence, it's difficult to believe you. You are the one making the claim, therefore the onus to back it up is on you.
We both know that you don’t have any intention of evaluating evidence and possibly changing your position. It’s just a game that your professors taught you to play.
Sorry, but I won’t waste my time.
WA state?
The issue here is providing subsidized, tax-payer funded free shit to drug addicts. Not the drugs themselves. Heroin and meth aren't even that big of a deal. If you've ever taken a pain pill you've essentially taken heroin. Give me a break.
Sadly, they can now “own” you
If people are "now living in tents with free food and other subsidies", the problem isn't drug use.
I have spent 40 of my 53 years living in PA and NJ, and have seen homelessness in 20 years of working and/or living in Philadelphia. Drug use and mental illness (sometimes the former creates the later as AB’s “Tell Your Children…” book presents) create much of the homelessness phenomena in the northeast.
In South Florida where I spent 8 years and in Southern CA for 4 years much of the homelessness is also drug and alcohol related.
The subsidies may be part of the problem but are likely not the root of it.
Dependency on the government is a huge issue, but what I have seen of the homelessness issue as a person in the real estate management business, has been addicts to alcohol or drugs.
It's very sad that we have so many people in this really bad situation mostly due to liberal Policies throughout the country. The damages caused by these drugs and alcohol is very serious and our Government spends Billions of dollars taxpayers dollars every year and it seems like it only get worse.
I'm not denying drugs and alcohol are a root cause of homelessness. What has exacerbated it is the state subsidizing it.
Each State needs to reopen Asylums most of these people are not only dangerous to society but to themselves as well.
All that our government leaders are doing is creating more dependants pernment joblessness and homelessness when they legalize drugs.
I am more inclined to support drug decriminalization. Legalizing drugs only expands the state.
Agreed. That's probably the most reasonable & logical approach.
I agree and we need more asylums available for these types of people.
And by keeping drugs illegal, they're allowing the prison-industrial complex to profiteer off filling prison beds. So, what's the solution?
Many of these people don't belong in Prison or a Nursing Home. They belong in a Asylum. Off of the streets not in Prison a place that makes sure they are taking the Medication and treatment they really need.
It was 7 days after his booster. Sure blame the drugs 💉 😵
This is what im thinking he was clean for 21 years and they found 10 different substances? Seems a little fishy . I loved him and their music Its just last 3 sudden deaths the cause of death has been greatly protected.
Yeah Fascists ALWAYS tend to overdo things, don't they, like not one or TWO substances but TEN, in order to HAMMER HOME the point.
Who says he was clean? Addicts are liars and thieves. A lot of them anyway. They worship their substance and care about little else.
I doubt he had temptation to be a THIEF, yo. Really?
He struggled with addiction in the past. I assumed he was clean, but addicts relapse all the time. Touring South America, wife and kids are at home, a few days of fun, it will be fine. Who knows? I don't really trust anonymous reports from "Colombian Officials" at this point in the story.
30 years of smoking and drinking and not sleeping while riding a bus around the country aren't good for the body either.
Really? I don’t know the first thing ab this dude. But if he was clean awful hard to imagine he had all that dope
How do you know he had his booster seven days ago? I couldn't find that info, but google may be hiding it.
On a lark, I checked the American Airlines site for covid-19 entry restrictions for various countries and saw that Columbia now requires the vax to enter the country. I also read or saw something on one of Andrew Henderson's Nomad Capitalist videos that Columbia also requires a "vaxpass" to enter restaurants and the like. This means Oliver was most certainly vaccinated and boosted in order to enter Columbia to play a show there. Of course his drug abuse could be a factor as well. Its likely his death was due to both drug abuse as well as the covid-19 vaccines.
What is it with all of these entertainers (both music and Hollywood) and their use of drugs? The guys that comprised Rush were always clean and they made the best music of all. You don't have to do drugs to make good music.
I will do you one better. The Foo Fighters were ADAMANT about only having vaccinated at their shows.
Foo Fighters held a show for vaccinated fans only.... https://news.yahoo.com/foo-fighters-held-show-vaccinated-060135264.html
Foo Fighters Vaccine Requirements at Shows Prompt Outrage: 'Shame on Them' https://www.newsweek.com/foo-fighters-vaccine-requirement-test-negative-result-shows-prompt-outrage-alaska-tour-1619671
PS vaccines are drugs too! Maybe Taylor also had an overdose of Spike.
I was attributing it to the shots too. Do you have evidence of when he got his booster? Did he tweet about it? (I’m not on Twit.)
7 days. Wow. That seems to be a standard. Thanks for sharing that.
is that a fact?
Do you have a source for this info?
There were reports that he was complaining of chest pain to hotel staff before he died. What happened to that info?
It doesn't fit the narrative they want to go out.
Erin Elizabeth Health Nut News
@unhealthytruth
For years Taylor spoke out against the V’s. He performed at age of autism and other events speaking out against it and even on video. Honored to have interviewed him when I lived in LA and shared a stage with him. RIP. He was fully VXD. It was required by 😈Dave Grohl.
Also she posted this:
Taylor Hawkins' heart was twice as heavy as it should have been when he died
https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/taylor-hawkins-heart-twice-heavy-26566261
There is a narrative. You can't have a well know celebrity dying and have it connected to the gene based therapy shot.
Thank you for that. And total, utter SHAME on 😈Grohl for being an ACCESSORY to his MURDER. In case Americans and everyone else haven't noticed, there's a crap TON of Spike Murders going AROUND. THE GLOBE.
They were CREATED to be a GENOCIDE BIOWEAPON.
PERIOD. FULL STOP.
And it's TIME -
PAST Time - that everyone start CALLING THEM THAT.
Created by Satanic. Globalist. Fascist. Elites.
Connected to Gates. Soros. Schwab. And many MORE, but those are the top DIRECTORS/MOVERS & SHAKERS.
For the Global Genocide that 160 plus countries AGREED to around 1990. They are ALL IN ON IT.
And WHO carried out their PROGRAM for everyone?
FASCIST FAKE AMERICANS, LIKE FRAUDXI, CDC, NIH... Along with W.H.O.
And American HOSPITALS, American DOCTORS. Governors. Mayors. And all the way to the top, and every federal agency in between.
That's what I was trying to find out....I thought vaccine death as soon as I heard. :(
Exactly
You have evidence or just trying to stir the pot?
Not yet. What’s in your bag?
exactly!!!!!
Taylor Hawkins did not OD. C'mon this is not our first rodeo. What other injected product was he recently using? What happened to the manager of the Foo Fighters shortly after they implemented their vaccine mandate for concerts? Yeah. Try to keep up.
I think FF's first return concert was for a "vaxxed only" audience.
God, how I hate that word "vaxxed".
Sounds like "vexxed" or "hexxed." Both true in this case.
Yep. Had to have proof of vaccination.
And why after 14 years and over 40 shows (including being invited onstage) I stopped. Segregation in the guise of safety.
I absolutely adored the Foo from their very beginning. I stopped following them when they did a song to benefit Planned Parenthood.... If I hadn’t stopped then, I definitely would have when they decided to require the shots to attend their shows...
Planned Parenthood? Argh….didn’t know that. Too much playing with Satan lately as well.
Yes, it was a song called “Soldier” back in 2017. I’ve never listened to it. I’ve found their fascination with Satanism very disturbing as well.
Soldier…. I remember it.
That was a NYC mandate. Band had other shows without.
They cancelled a venue that didn’t require a pass. Somewhere around Wisconsin? Not sure now.
nope... the foo fighters were vaccine nazis. google it. i left some links up above.
Actually, if you want to buy tickets right now to Foo Fighters on Ticketmaster, this is the first thing that pops up for THEIR concerts:
I can’t paste here for some reason.
It says you must be vaccinated or provide a negative Covid test less than 48 hours old.
Wow! That's major fan commitment + solid commitment to your principles. :)
Thank you. It still stings but over my dead body with all I’ve learned in the past 2 years.
Considering what a history of drug use (he OD’d about 10 years ago) does to the vital organs and the known damage of double and triple shots do to the body, and heart in particular, it shouldn’t be too far of a stretch to link them all together into a deadly cocktail.
Maybe, but this is akin to blaming COVID for killing a terminal cancer patient.
Well, it is from the NY Post which has a better track record than some media. But they cite sources as Bogota police and other gov't officials. I assume they have no journalists on site.
Blaming every notable death on the vaccines is the other side of the Branch Covidian coin of viewing the vaccines as a savior. Hawkins had a long history of being a party animal, drug abuser. He lived the rock star life to the hilt and, like so many before him (drummers seem especially afflicted by this) he suffered the same ultimate fate.
Dude was in the drug capital of planet Earth, was a drug abusing rock star, yet you want to turn first to vaccines as the cause. This kind of madness does not help the cause of the fight against vaccine mandates.
Now, is is possible that he snorted massive quantities of coke that he might have otherwise managed to survive if not for a vaxx induced case of myocarditis? I suppose, but that still doesn't make the vaxx the primary cause and it is far more likely he died of an opioid OD, like most of his peers that have OD'd have.
None of it excuses the FF for their lame vaxx rules to attend their concert, but one does not beget the other.
Or if he did OD, he could have OD'd on Spike protein. yup.
What happened to the mgr?
Apparently he died June 21.
Unexpected untimely death
Good grief, the loss Grohl has endured is tremendous. So sad.
Yes... Starting with Cobain...
Yup the guitar tech of the band Kiss died of “Covid” after being double-vd and all concerts required a vax for every attendee. He died in October and I don’t know when they were Vd, but I’ve read stories of people with blood clots months after the V—they are micro clots, so it takes time to accumulate. Also, pericarditis and myocarditis don’t just heal quickly, they damage the heart permanently, and many people ignore the symptoms.
The fake vaccine BIOWEAPON contains graphene hydroxide. It is an imperishable carbon based nano metal that links together once in the bloodstream and forms nano razor blades which then begin to slice up veins and arteries from the inside. It also contains certain substances which cause the clumping/stacking of red blood cells and this starts IMMEDIATELY upon entering the blood stream. THAT'S why the clotting and why it affects so MANY different areas of the body - brain, heart, organs, etc, esp where there is damage or weakness already.
Graphene hydroxide. The top scientist and if I'm not mistaken, the original creator of it released a video detailing all this information about finding the substance in the vaccines after closely examining several vials.
He was then BRUTALLY MURDERED 3 days later. His wife survived him and released her own video. You can find the videos on BitChute.
https://www.bitchute.com/video/NDED1fZQFHI4/
If Hawkins died of a drug overdose, then I have an island in the Caribbean to sell you.
Exactly.
Which part of "drug cache found" in his room did you not understand?
Are you really believing everything you read on MSM now? After all the lies we've been fed about covid and the vaccines, I can't imagine taking anything "reported" at face value.
Exactly what I was going to say. Thanks!
Me too
I completely agree. But sometimes the news is just the news. Mostly not, but maybe in this case?
After educating myself on the WEF plans, reading RFK's book on the pandemic, the "stage setting" for Biden's appearances, even the photoshopping of Lia Thomas' face to appear more feminine .....50 years of paying attention to the "news" (all the way back to the false Vietnam reporting, Dan Rather's falsification of Bush's records, etc), and gaining an understanding that the MSM has an underlying agenda in just about every story reported (they are telling you what to think, how you should react, instead of factual straight-forward reporting), I do not trust one thing coming from their mouths.
The News is NEVER "Just the News" ANYMORE. They are FASCIST PROPAGANDA ARMS OF THIS GOVT AND ITS HANDLERS.
How do we know it wasn’t planted.
Really! Especially with a history of drug use, it is an easy scapegoat. He’d said he was clean and sober a while back... (Not saying people don’t relapse, but still this is highly suspicious.)
90% of my friends with addiction problems, relapse. All of them have had in- house treatment, one time or another. Without a doubt, alcohol is the most serious, with meth a close 2nd. Driving while intoxicated should be dealt with severely, especially since my grandkids are out there on the road all the time. What we need is a society that assumes personally responsibility for their actions. Therein lies the problem. Have a drink or blow a joint, but don't get in your car and kill those we love.
Because nothing grew?
They'd never lie to you, right?
(Just a side note: I tried to "like" your responses and it would not register for some reason-so-- "like")
I just found this article on Andy Pollard, The Foo Fighters' stage manager who "died suddenly of natural causes," he was 46 years old and pretty fit.
https://stanleywilson.medium.com/some-of-what-i-know-about-andy-pollard-de0b2ab66d07
Kiss guitar tech Francis Steiner died at 52. He was fully Vd. Some people tried to blame their “lax policy” and yet they had masks, mandatory V for band members AND audiences. His death? Has to be Covid. Can’t possibly be that it was October, and their tour was completed Vd, and as predicted, his immune system was crap. Heck, he could’ve had heart issues that didn’t show up for several months (micro-clotting) that has been very common among V’d people.
The Foo Fighters were also very public about forcing concert-goers to have a vaccine or don’t show up. They were all Vd by requirement, but I’m sure it also had nothing to do with yet another 40ish or 50ish year old dropping dead.
Cannot like your reply either, so, like ❤️
Man. And I fell for it initially too! Damn.
What do you think he died of? I am not being facetious here, I really would like to hear other perspectives.
Myocarditis or pericarditis, caused by the vax and boosters. I refer you to this informative article: 779 Athlete Cardiac Arrests, Serious Issues, 500 Dead, After COVID Shot -- https://goodsciencing.com/covid/athletes-suffer-cardiac-arrest-die-after-covid-shot/
Also this: 2021-2022 epidemic of heart issues in athletes -- https://airtable.com/shrbaT4x8LG8EbvVG/tbl7xKsSUIOPAa7Mx
It’s very, very sad- but why does a 1 liner towards the end of the first NY Post story say staff said he’d complained of chest pains the day before? Or maybe there’s no connection.
My fairly health uncle died at 27. How? Massive heart attack brought on by cocaine usage. So yeah, that chest pain thing probably related to drug usage.
I’m so sorry! Yes there definitely could be a drug connection. With a few ‘unexpected’ heart attacks in the news recently, plus the question of the v. medium or long term effects, if there are any, it’s hard to know what’s going on. I guess the toxicology reports will shed some light.
I hope someone does a toxicology report -- not that we'd ever hear about it.... Very quick/eager to report the drug cache. FF were very outspoken pro-C19vaxxers. Their band manager also died in Jun '21. Have they outright said it was an OD?
Pretty sure they would rather say it's an OD than a reaction to the vaxx.
I'm on the same page as you. Seems mighty quick to chalk this one up to drugs when it's clear the vax was part of the big picture.
“Forensic doctors were shocked by the size of the drummer's heart: it weighed at least 600 grams.” (https://www.reddit.com/r/Music/comments/tp50ln/autopsy_report_oliver_taylor_hawkins_died_of/)
Yes, the autopsy shows he died of a heroin overdose, but that was not the only contributing factor. He was reported to have complained about chest pain prior to his death. My strong suspicion is he developed myocarditis post-injection, and that is what ultimately led to his death, with a little help from his friends.
Seems pretty quick for an autopsy. Was reading the comments of the reddit post and read this translation of part of that report: 'taking into account that there are no signs of violence, we have a preliminary hipótesis of the death as a possible OD. We await the lab results "
Taylor OD'd, alright. OD'd on spike, perhaps.
That's one large ❤
He had a large one 😞
I always thought that celebrities etc would receive some kind of saline injection- but it would appear our overlords don't care who takes the poison.
The govt is NOT in the business of SAVING LIVES.
THEY are who want us DEAD!!
Have you not caught on yet?
Coked up and boosted, what could go wrong?
Coked Up & Boosted. I love that album.
So you're going with the official narrative?
Fascinating
The NY Post had the official, which is to say correct, narrative on Hunter's laptop. Why not this one, too?
How about we come at this from a different angle? Where's all of the NYPost reporting on the dangers of the vaccine? And the side effects in the hundreds of thousands? VAERS reports? And the deaths and injuries in the vax trials?
The proper angle is,
Has the NY Post reported and DENIED the dangers of the vaxxes? *Not* covering something is different from *suppressing* or denying that something.
I don't know *how* they've reported on the vaxxes. But my reference to the laptop is analogous to this current drug OD reporting. If the Post has steadfastly reported that the vaxxes are safe and effective, then you have a point, and my reference to the laptop is wrong.
The dangers of the vax are well known and are at LEAST as much of a story as Hunter's laptop. Choosing to not report truthfully about those dangers does not make them de facto truth tellers, no matter the topic.
But *have* they chosen to not report truthfully about the vaxxes?
Unless that's the case, then your point does not stand. I don't read the NY Post so I have no idea what they have or haven't reported on with respect to the vaxxes.
Refusing to cover is a lie of omission.
But anyway, this isn't about the vaxxes. It's about the report of a drug OD death.
My question was, "They got the laptop story right; why can't they be getting this story right as well?"
Even IF they report that the vaxxes are safe and effective, THAT doesn't change the fact that they DID get the laptop story right. Which means they're not 100% wrong all the time.
Which means they *could* have this OD story right. That's my point.
Again, I'll ask the same question: HAVE they refused to cover it?
Don’t know. But it is a fact that many news outlets have refused to cover a whole lot of newsworthy stories over the past several years.
NO ONE in the mainstream media has covered the dangers of the vax. Not minimally, not thoroughly.
Bought off
I'm laughing at the low-key sarcasm you've mastered. I'm way too obvious.
This is a tragedy. Another artist taken too soon, in the footsteps of Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Curt Cobain, Andrew Love, Chis Cornell, and Whitney Houston, to name but a few. The fact that the Foo Fighters were very pro-jab puts another slant to this. Hawkins complained of chest pains, like Shane Warne and countless young jabbed athletes. Or was it the Fine Colombian? Or the butler in the library with the candlestick? The drug hypothesis was trotted out way too soon, without a tox report, as Loving Mom said.
Chris Cornell was murdered. Chester Bennington too
Really? I don’t follow this stuff much but he was an incredible vocalist
Absolutely
I don't believe it...they're trying to cover up another jab death.
Yep, and if so, no one will ever hear about it. Couldn't have anything to do with the miracle shots. It will be an "overdose".
Do the research. Check out this link at BitChute and several others there...
https://www.bitchute.com/video/NDED1fZQFHI4/
And THEN tell us there's no way of knowing and use the phrase "paranoid conspiracy theories".
There's a HUGE difference between knowing TRUTH... And "paranoid conspiracy theories" and that phrase only exists as a widespread ad nauseum parroted phrase bc people in power who are behind REAL conspiracies WANT you to think the way you do - it's called "social engineering" and is a Fascist tactic...so you will be dismissive, so you will STAY DECEIVED.
THE GREAT DECEPTION is NOT a "conspiracy theory."
It's Conspiracy FACT, and you might just be one of the VICTIMS of those who are your enemies and in fact, intend you harm... Even death.
Sometimes unbelievably wicked things just simply happen to be TRUTH.
They had a gig, Taylor said that he never partied on show days as he couidnt perform. He wouldnt die from a drug binge on day of a show. He was a professional.
JFC. Is Alex on glue?? They didn’t call them the FOO PFIZERS for nothing!! The drug bs is a COVER!!!
Wasn’t it Dave grohl that wrote a friggin jingle for the shot with mick jagger?
Foo Pfizers is AWESOME.
Thank you. It’s appropriate. 😂
911 was called because he was suffering “chest pains” before he died.🤔
I hope Alex can get back to and eventually publish his book on drugs. I read "Tell Your Children" awhile back before I read "Pandemia." I'm just-about-senior age, and years ago married my college sweetheart who was a many-joints-a-day pot smoker. Of course, I thought he would grow out of it. As he had generous parents, he didn't work and was always stoned. His refusal to stop or even cut down caused me to leave, and raise our three children on my own with little to no help. To this day, most relatives think I was wrong to leave for this reason: "it's just pot, it's not harmful" but we lived in a dangerous and abusive environment. "Tell Your Children" validated, at least to me, that my observations about heavy pot use and its affects were real. Thank you Alex, and yes, I will tell my children.
Props to you D Joyce for making that tough choice. It could not have been easy, but the right choice is never easy. Cannot imagine the limitations placed upon you for protecting your children. Wishing you the very best and stay strong!
Thank you, Sunshine.
Welcome D. Stay Strong!
They sure are rushing fast to blame drugs on this one. Aren't they supposed to deny that it was drugs for a year, claim they can't say anything until lengthy tests are conducted and then quietly roll it out? They really, really want this one to be drugs.
It’s just to cover why he really died. (shot which Dave Grohl talked him into) I don’t believe it. I believe he was sober.
He was very healthy and fit. (Outside the jab)
Reporters don’t get how many people are caused pain by premature overdose reports, especially kids. I appreciated this from Jeff Childers from Coffee and Covid:
“But some facts didn’t seem to fit the overdose narrative, and now there’s a controversy brewing. First, the Columbians didn’t release a cause of death, despite finding all those drugs. Next, Columbian newspaper Semana reported that the autopsy also revealed Hawkins’ heart was enlarged, weighing over 600 grams, twice the weight of an average adult male’s heart. According to Semana, local officials said the drummer’s enlarged heart must have played some part in his death.
Next, the Daily Mail reported that witnesses at his hotel said Hawkins called the front desk for help due to “chest pain” before being found dead in his room when help arrived. The fact that father-of-three Hawkins called the desk and communicated intelligently about his condition, asked clearly for medical assistance, lucidly described concerns related to his heart — not issues typically related to overdosing, has generated some skepticism in the developing official story.
Next, a compelling recent interview video shows Hawkins discussing his health, his kids, the demands of touring, and saying he lives a normal, boring, healthy lifestyle. He said he doesn’t go to parties and his family doesn’t “live that kind of Hollywood rockstar life.” He says he doesn’t hang out with actors, is an avid cycler, and admits if he could just quit smoking he would be “the picture of health.”
So weird that can't like certain comments, like yours.
Really? I got notice of your likes
Playing drums the way he did could be thought of as the equivalent of a soccer game. Perhaps this is not unlike the category of collapsing athletes. Alec Berenson goin mainstream on this is a huge disappointment
My sister gave me a good reminder about Berenson when I shared my dislike for this substack angle. She said “he’s a journalist. Please, yes, dislike the angle of a real journalist and not an advocacy reporter who only writes an “approved” angle.” Solid point.
https://stevekirsch.substack.com/p/foo-fighters-drummer-taylor-hawkins?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjo0NTIyMjczNSwicG9zdF9pZCI6NTE1MDI0OTgsIl8iOiJwcXFyaSIsImlhdCI6MTY0ODk0MDE1MywiZXhwIjoxNjQ4OTQzNzUzLCJpc3MiOiJwdWItNTQ4MzU0Iiwic3ViIjoicG9zdC1yZWFjdGlvbiJ9.thzcgJ8uTIif5XLZXS1w6Spp0lxbIVJRQ3VShKT9bQo&s=r
I’ve been watching a dear one slowly killing himself on this shit the last 10 years. It’s a pretty awful way to live, from what I see. Destroys. Anytime I get a phone call I worry it’s his end. If depopulation is an agenda, this is part of the strategy.
It's more likely that it was the bloody vaccine. A trend here with "famous" people around 50 dying "unexpectedly". (Never heard of this guy.) I am near Australia where Shane Warne died and a day or so a 50 year old female senator from the Labor party. He was definitely vaccinated becauses the band was en route to AU and NZ where as Mr. Jokovic demonstrated, no entry without vaccine. It could be synergistic where some drugs like cocaine are hard on the vascular system. And then throw in a good dose of spike protein........
Interesting how the media and Berenson immediately jump to conclusions about drug use but when it comes to vaccine side effects its all about being an ostrich.
I am retired law enforcement of a major metropolitan department in California. I worked in the field for 35 years. The more you legalize drugs, the more our values disappear. A society needs values. I saw that everyday of my career. We need rules. We need limits. You may be a Libertarian, but you do like going out from your home knowing that you, and your family, are safe. It is as simple as that. BTW, Alex Berenson wrote a book about marijuana that I read- it is excellent, and every parent should get it.
I believe you are correct in the deduction that people actually do need rules, order, to their lives. I have not seen anything that really works, been to Europe, saw "Needle park" years ago before our drug problems had ballooned to this degree. It was a sad, sickening, miserable sight to see, now our city streets look very similar. Vancouver is the most stunning city, I was really overcome with it's beauty, but when I saw the "drug section", just a wasteland of human potential lost forever, another sad, actually sickening, sight. It hit me like pictures from a concentration camp, horrible human suffering and at their own hand. And no answers, still no real answers !
Yep. I’m in Vancouver. We have a horrible, horrible problem here. Open air drug market and safe injection sites. Nice idea??? Not sure it’s helping at all. The addict I know and love truly believes if he could get out of this city his life might be saved. I know you can’t just run away from your problems, but I do think he might have some wisdom in that line of thinking. I hope he gets out in time.
Such a breath taking city, such a terrible situation. I know the common line is addicts can't run from the addiction, but I concur with you on this one. I do think the flight can't be from city to city, I think it does take (getting hard to find !) a very small town, rural, environment, must be really really motivated to develop new hobbies from painting to hiking to photography, to get an animal to care for, to make new friends and help others through volunteering, to commit to a daily workout routine, learn and practice yoga or similar thought focusing DAILY practice.... it is just a tall order for an addict, used to having no real routine or boundaries, it's a tough one. Just a move alone, from a very urban to a very rural location, is unimaginable for most people. But yes, I DO believe there are circumstances where "running away" CAN be the answer. I once met (at church of all places !) a wall street trader cocaine addict, who was successful by changing everything. Luxury auto for a pickup, NYC for a very tiny "backwoods" Florida town in the panhandle, and having never done any kind of "art" of any kind, or ever had a thought about being "artistic", got interested in, of all things, CHAIN SAW carving ! This happened when he bought a "sculpture" for his new, tiny, rural cabin type home. The purchase led to a friendship with the artist, and ended with him learning from the artist. Sometimes you just never know where the most unexpected path can lead ! ! !
What a beautiful story! Thank you for sharing hope.
Although complete recover from addiction is (sadly) rare, I do think the stories of people who were able to "make it out" are not as publicized as those who didn't... the old "if it bleeds it leads" phrase in "journalism". Just heard that the daughter of a friend of a friend entered treatment voluntarily yesterday, all we can do is pray it "gets through" the fog of her mind and desire to protect the addiction so deep in her !
Well said.
What does “drug cache” mean? I know someone who was accused of having an “arsenal of guns” who had maybe three.
My husband deals with chronic illness and pain. He has what many would call a “drug cache”.
RIP Taylor Hawkins, regardless of drugs, vaxx, or other.
Come on, Alex. Love you man, but nothing is known yet. But to the point - what are you suggesting? That we expand the war on drugs? Criminalizing drugs doesn't work, and won't stop them. It never will. It will just put more innocent people in jail and foster organized crime. Take a look at Portugal. Legalize it all and help with treatment programs. The pro-government drug war is not a good look for you.
Better yet, prosecute and incarcerate the dealers.
I say we adopt Singapore method of punishment. Bring in caning like they did to Michael Fay a while back. You get 10 whacks for each toke or injection. Dealers have it done publicly for all to see. As an employee I would never hire a stoner. There has to be some motivating factor that would work. Legalizing doesn't work and the war on drugs also hasn't worked.
So what is the real answer (I'm serious, not trying to be polyanna here) ? Is there some deep unknown that drives so many to want to kill themselves in such a long agonizing way ? Watched two nieces, the "party" fun soon becomes a nightmare of just desperately trying to get enough money for more, more, more, yet, legitimate careers were impossible after awhile, all self-esteem is lost, family, excellent education, great career start, nothing matters after awhile. Yet, what drives more and more people to take this up, what is missing deep in a life that seems on the surface to be on a bright path.... and why are more and more taking to this life style ? Over prescribing of Rx for sure plays into it, but that's not the whole story.
As you say, it starts as a party. The party becomes a physical and mental addiction. Once addicted, the absence of the drug becomes literally painful and it takes more and more of the drug to alleviate the pain. Then, as you also say, comes the low self-esteem. But the addiction takes that away too, but then that is also relieved by taking more of the drug. I knew a guy who served in Vietnam. A lot of drugs among the troops there. He told me that back then the military would imprison the addict for months to deprive the addict of the drug, and allow him to suffer through withdrawal. No trial. No record of it. That’s the logic of imprisoning addicts, simply deny the addict access to drugs. And before all the Substackers out there, I am not advocating locking people
Correction, before all the Substackers out there jump all over me, I am not condoning the imprisonment of people without due process. I’m just informing you of what I know on the subject.
Kind of reminds me of a movie that absolutely scared me to DEATH (and one I am absolutely SURE my parents had NO IDEA I sneaked into (no "R" ratings back then). Frank Sinatra in The Man with the Golden Arm, and yes, I had NO BUSINESS at my age being in such a movie, sneaking in when the two older siblings were "supposed" to take me to the Disney film ( $. 15 for those under 12 and I was not anywhere close to 12 ! ) That was like taking a very young child to the Texas Chain Saw movie, but it sure left a life long impression on me !
There’s a huge difference between a toke and an injection
Better yet, restore the Fourth Amendment so that the poor and powerless can defend themselves from all the violent lunatics who want to illegalize freedom.
Rick aka Freedom_First(at)verizon(dot)net
That would have to include our government
Yep
Legalizing and making treatment programs available has been a failure everywhere it's been tried.
Nonsense. All drugs were legal in this country until 1914.
Did you skip over the Portugal part?
Exactly! Users have easily been getting drugs for decades, illegal or not.
My jury is out and the reporting on his death doesn't add up.
I think they're lying because they didn't get him the medical attention he needed fast enough and his thrice jabbed enlarged heart gave out.
The balls this sack of shit had to ban unvaxxed people from his concerts last year, all the while doing hardcore drugs… Narcissistic coward.
It would be poetic justice if the vaccine had a contributing factor. The PM of Fiji had heart issues and was rushed to Australia for emergency surgery. I estimated this was a week after this booster based on a speech he made on New Year's. This SOB had effectively mandated vaccines for the citizens.
That is truly poetic justice.
Isn't it possible it was the jab?. Just finding a cache does not mean that was the direct link unless tox reports are performed.
Not buying it. Got it from a reliable source that he went to the lobby to ask someone to call an ambulance because he was having chest pains. If you’re on a bender you don’t fo that. He had been sober for years and now he has his family with him in this trip and he decides to start doing drugs? Not buying it. The whole band is vaxced. They required it at their shows. They all got the Rona post vaxc. Think about it. They’d rather have the memory of him being a drug addict than to cop to the truth that the vaxc killed him. We’ll never know the real story.
It's one of the major issues that keep me from being big L libertarian. As a critical care nurse I can't get on board with hard drugs. I've seen too many bodies destroyed. Yeah, I get it. Cigarettes and alcohol as bad and still legal. I can have a glass of wine at dinner and move on with my life. Heroin, not so much.
True. But what was the drug that killed him. Does it start with “mRNA?”
Spike overdose?
Alex only approves of medically prescribed drugs. Yes, it was the jabs. A man abusing heroin doesn't look like Hawkins - physically or mentally. He was complaining of chest pains when the ambulance was called. They are all fully jabbed and require their concert goers to be as well.
The only thing I approve of within China is their treatment of in-country drug dealers. They execute them. As for the drugs dealers who wish to bring harm to their greatest democratic enemy, America, the CCP supplies as much fentanyl as their Triads/Intelligence fronts can sell to the Cartels and Triads based in Mexico. China well rememberers what the Opium Trade did to China. They now visit the same upon the West. Tax revenues once obtained form Manufacturing Operations have dried up in many States as a consequence of outsourcing. So the same fools who exported our jobs now need new revenue streams to tax--so here come all the rationalizations for legalizing the same drugs that ravaged the country in the 1960's and 70's. Marijuana is but a gateway drug to drugs which cause far more misery still. Stop the madness and vote the spineless out!
I was thinking recently about the China situation, the fentanyl situation, how the opium trade devastated every strata of China's society, top to bottom. And how our gradual phasing out of our great manufacturing industry might play into all this... you tied it all together !
Fentanyl is a product of the drug war just like "bathtub gin" and "white lightning" were products of the previous drug war. China was destroyed by communism. BTW all prohibition wars are communist. They deny the existence of individual rights.
Rick aka Freedom_First(at)verizon(dot)net
Do you believe China sees itself as a society that has been destroyed by communism ? Or (if you've visited there) did you get the feeling they (the guides, the people in the hotels and restaurants, etc.) feel they are a successful country and have personal freedom ? I realized immediately they are "guarded" in their speaking with tourists, as they were in Cuba when we were able to travel there for a short period, but not as repressed (on the surface) as I expected. I realize they have many many restrictions; on marriage, family life, choice of living accommodations, etc. but I was surprised that people shop, sit at cafes like KFC and Starbucks, and chat, smile, etc. On prohibition wars being communist, are you thinking of the war here on alcohol ? Do you think the communist party activity here at the time was the impetus, not the religious organizations and the social workers who detested the abuse families received from alcoholic fathers who (since few women worked except to take in laundry, ironing, things they could do at home) who social workers of the time saw as a drain on society and cruelty to women and children, when men did not return for several days after being paid, not until their entire paychecks were spent in saloons and brothels. Or do you think it was simply a philosophical move (by the communist party which was just taking root at the time, and part of their goal to remove the right of an individual to drink, smoke, or other engage in any other destructive behaviors ? Do you think there was a money motive also ? Pay offs to mobs, speak easy operators, police, etc. also ? We know all of those actually happened....but, were they also part of the communist plan to inculcate their particular views ? Interesting to ponder... never thought of communist activity as the root of prohibition, but, the party was certainly gaining a foothold here at that time...
Very interesting comments. I was referring to the old China being destroyed by communism. It is free markets that produce wealth and communism is about the central control of all economic activity and no private property which is why commie countries are the poorest countries. In the last twenty years or so, China has become a lot more free, especially economic freedom, and therefore a lot more prosperous. A friend of mine lived there for a year about two years ago and told me he felt freer there than here because he could drink beer in public which he can't do in the USA. Criticizing the government is still a big no-no over there but it is also becoming a big no-no over here. Look at the treatment of Jan 6 protesters.
Another friend who visited Vietnam was surprised to see no police except a for a few directing traffic. He said that Saigon was full of independent small shops doing business. To him, the economy looked free.
I did read about the history of alcohol prohibition and recall that there was an anti-saloon league. Some males who worked in factories would blow their weekly pay on gambling, alcohol, and women at one of the many saloons, and then go home to their wife with no money to pay the rent. And, of course, there is always some idiot who gets drunk and angry and proceeds to kick the family dog, and yell at his wife and kids. I have personally known a few people who would get drunk and start a fist fight. These kind of incidents cause some people to blame alcohol which is ridiculous.
I also recall a clergy person-minister who started the "temperance" movement. He preached moderation and became disgusted with the prohibitionists because they advocated violence (the law) and hatred.
Communism is the root of prohibition because it denies individual rights. They can make and enforce any law that they want. In our former Republic, any laws that violated the natural rights to life , liberty, and the pursuit of happiness were null and void. The supreme court was supposed to rule that those laws were un-Constitutional.
Every point you brought up is valid. "Blaming" the alcohol is like "blaming" guns. It just seems that decade after decade, and century after century, we stay in the same mental rut; if we just eliminate the offending culprit (the gun, the booze, the casino, the brothel, etc.) we CAN change human nature. It just goes on and on, while the shrewd politicians and elitists sit back and watch us participate in our self-destruction, all they had to do was "stir the pot" a bit, tell the masses those nasty guns are at it again...out killing people people left and right, causing school massacres to be so common, those gas guzzling SUV's also going wild and killing people (ever notice when there is a tragic accident, it never says a Ford sedan, or a Honda coupe, but if an SUV was involved, that is the featured line in the news ! I believe the bottom is we must start truly teaching students HOW ( the process) of thinking, analyzing, etc. before we do end up like the Chinese, "relatively" placated (with cell phones and some Kentucky fried), but not actually "free" ? Oh, maybe we are also in that condition ? More to ponder today...
The average Chinese citizen loves their country but hates the Chinese Communist Party.
That is interesting. Suspected their is a percentage who (silently) reject the doctrine, but have only visited, never lived and worked for an American enterprise there (though many of our friends at Caterpillar did), but it's is a (pleasant !) surprise to find out it is the average there. Could be a good sign ?
Ann Marie, Orwell's Nightmare is being perfected within China's Surveillance State. Small Happinesses occur within Chinese households but, especially in China's cities, ports of entry, all transport modes and hubs, every citizen's face and ear are photographed and placed in a massive data hubs--the State watches every move. Every foreigner entering China is also similarly ID'ed. Be wary of something similar happening here.
I assume that you do not want to execute all doctors, pharmacists, medical technicians, and millions of others who have legal access to drugs. Therefore, you want to execute a few billion humans just because their papers are not in order. Unfortunately, there are many ordinary people like yourself who have been completely brainwashed by drug war propaganda. Rick aka Freedom_First(at)verizon(dot)net
No I do not. Although, in your case, I might like to pack some of the same poison in your luggage before you head to Beijing.
In addition to being brainwashed, you are as dumb as a bucket of rocks. poison?
luggage? Beijing?
From lawyer Jeff Childers’ Coffee and Covid Substack:
💉 Yesterday I reported on the untimely, sudden and unexpected death of 50-year-old Foo Fighters’ drummer Taylor Hawkins, which is now creating controversy. Also yesterday, following a preliminary autopsy, Columbia’s attorney general issued a statement claiming that no fewer than TEN psychoactive and recreational drugs were found in Hawkins’ system, including pot, antidepressants, benzodiazepines, LSD, cocaine, heroin, and opoids. Basically the entire list. According to Columbian officials, he was a walking pharmacy.
So, for a brief moment, it looked like just another sad stereotypical “rock star overdoses on drugs” story.
But some facts didn’t seem to fit the overdose narrative, and now there’s a controversy brewing. First, the Columbians didn’t release a cause of death, despite finding all those drugs. Next, Columbian newspaper Semana reported that the autopsy also revealed Hawkins’ heart was enlarged, weighing over 600 grams, twice the weight of an average adult male’s heart. According to Semana, local officials said the drummer’s enlarged heart must have played some part in his death.
Next, the Daily Mail reported that witnesses at his hotel said Hawkins called the front desk for help due to “chest pain” before being found dead in his room when help arrived. The fact that father-of-three Hawkins called the desk and communicated intelligently about his condition, asked clearly for medical assistance, lucidly described concerns related to his heart — not issues typically related to overdosing, has generated some skepticism in the developing official story.
Next, a compelling recent interview video shows Hawkins discussing his health, his kids, the demands of touring, and saying he lives a normal, boring, healthy lifestyle. He said he doesn’t go to parties and his family doesn’t “live that kind of Hollywood rockstar life.” He says he doesn’t hang out with actors, is an avid cycler, and admits if he could just quit smoking he would be “the picture of health.”
Finally, alert readers pointed out this is the second sudden, unexpected tragedy for the band in under a year. Last June, the Foo Fighter’s stage manager, Andrew Pollard, also died suddenly and unexpectedly. The 45-year-old father of two young children, Arlo and Ren, was — ironically — also found dead in his hotel room after retiring for the night. Pollard’s death came just a few weeks after the band began requiring proof of vaccination for fans to attend its concerts.
Being in the Foo Fighters — a band that has been stable for over 20 years — is starting to look like it might be bad for your health, for some reason. Or possibly like a real-life game of Clue. Did they check whether Mrs. Green was in the Library with the Candlestick?
Yes, great post.
Great post
This! Dave Grohl is a douche for forcing people into unwanted medical decisions.
Perhaps he got the placebo shots but probably not... It will catch up to everyone who got the real thing.
I work health care in a typical rust belt declining industrial city. We have a "marginalized" population in our inner city. We no longer even say anything if our mom's -to -be smoke marijuana all pregnancy long--just harder stuff. CPS cannot do more. And are we under-employed and over-serviced with no savings, a 63% graduation rate from our local (well-funded high school). Yes. Single moms are the norm and people don't make their appointments at the health center --and we send a cab for 75% of them! Yet now we tell everyone that smoking weed all day long is legal. What a great plan to make you weak, shiftless, without drive and ambition to do better for you and your children, with no consequences for all my "father of baby" men as they ae called on the health form. This has been our culminating plan since the mid 60's
Just. Plain. Wow. 😢
Can't have Hero Dave Grohl's Vax mandate get slimed by a death of his bandmate of the last 28 yrs. We must always trust Dave Grohl and his edicts were righteous and the vax was not involved in this death. We'll never really know unless there's an actual autopsy with public findings.
Well, YOU know....
We KNOW. Educated guesses can be pretty accurate.
There are many potential health maladies that are hard to diagnose especially if the patient is not experiencing difficult symptoms or is just stubborn about seeing a doc who conveys opinions of hypochondria because the doc cannot easily figure out the diagnosis. These health issues, autoimmune, lymphoma, myeloma, etc… are complicated to track down… but would be more deadly with recreational drugs and COVID jabs.
I have one of theses and I had to tell my doc I am taking charge to tell him what tests I need done… and I was right. He called me to tell me and apologized for doubting me when the tests came back positive. Expensive tests by the way. Because of my diagnosis I can ingest no recreational drugs, no cigars and very little alcohol. No more COVID jabs. My heart is fine so far, but can be damaged by my disease.
The point I am making here is that there is likely more to diagnose to explain his death at such a young age… that we will never know because those tests cannot be done now. The explanations will be the simple and media-stupid.
I took my family to see a Foo Fighters concert last year. We are all heartbroken over Taylor’s death.
Please write the book Alex. This is heartbreaking news.
Are you certain its drug overdose and not the jabs? There is a lot of mystery around celebrity deaths and injuries now.
News.com.au. Taylor Hawkins suffered chest pains in hotel room in Columbia, medical emergency. A bit suspect that People magazine is already reporting results of toxicology..a little too quick…
Not able to confirm this yet but a lot of noise on Twitter that Hawkins was coerced by Grohl to take jab. Hawkins was a supporter in past around vax injuries/advocacy. If this was true it seems surprising he would want to be jabbed. Very sad RIP
That's what life without God looks like...no purpose, self absorption, no service to others...break up of families... infidelity, sex without love...we are reaping the whirlwind...take the St Benedict option with other like minded people and live in Christian community...before you and your children are destroyed
It has been reported that it was only 2 days after his 2nd booster.
Doubtful, they have been in South America for the past week.
Way too early Steve. Way way too early. Taylor has had issues but been sober for 20+ years so give him some respect. This is why I don’t pay for you anymore.
Isn't this berenson?
It’s sad when anyone dies of drug use. Being an addict isn’t a choice, but using is. He chose, end of story. I had a friend who died skydiving, choice. I had another who had a passion for fast cars, dead. Another smoking, dead. You either believe in personal liberties, even those that might be addictive or dangerous, or you’re for limited liberty. Some feel walking alone down the street without a mask is risky and dangerous, but it’s their right. Right Alex?
Some very dumb comments here. The police in Colombia have no stake in this. Rock stars go on the road and they go from city to city where they spend two hours playing to thousands and then 22 hours in hotels or on the road with mind numbing boredom so they take drugs and drink. I suppose Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Prince, Jim Morrison and on and on died from the vaccine too. It’s happens all the time. Stop with the idiotic conspiracy theories. This one doesn’t fly.
Wrong. He didn’t want the vax and was supposedly clean. Can’t rule out either scenario
Can't rule out the fact that he just had a heart attack either. It's rare, but it happens. A fried of mine died last year at age 45 from a heart attack. No vax, no other health conditions. Didn't feel well for a few hours, next thing you know he's gone.
Possible but they will never say if it was the vax especially since Grohl was pushing it so much
I was just gonna say there’s a lot of good comments on here and then I found this one.
Did you personally inject him? No one knows for certain
He had 3 kids it would seem it would have been time to kick the addictions and leave them behind. If not for himself then for his kids. No judgement but very sad. He survived a heroin od some years ago.
His friend on Twitter said he was clean. Grohl mandated the shots but probably ensured he got saline
Grohl probably got the clot shot too, and just hasn’t had any side effects yet. He and Hawkins were very close friends. I don’t think he would mandate the shot for his friends and not take it himself.
I don’t think any of the influencers get the actual shot but I could be wrong
Don't underestimate the power of the psychosis. All the right people say it's safe, effective and super important, so anyone saturated in msm, showbiz industry, etc, is sadly likely to be a true believer.
Now people like Fauci, Bourla, etc who have no reason to not be well informed on the real data I would suspect to take saline shots.
I hope he was, maybe it was the vax that was some initial speculation I saw. Truth is if it was the vax it will never be reported.
Yup. Meant to say that Grohl
probably got saline given how much he was advocating it. Also getting close to the Luciferian holidays
Yup
" Also getting close to the Luciferian holidays" I do not know what that means.
During and around certain holidays that are important to Satanists and Luciferians, for instance Halloween, there are groups among them that arrange human sacrifices... Sometimes in an actual ceremony ritual - but SOMETIMES the sacrifices are arranged to look like accidents or suicides, etc. Many celebrities have been said to have sacrificed people into in such ways in return for fame and fortune...
Who is the power behind the fame and fortune?
Lucifer/Satan
There is these days a real CULT in Hollywood and the music business as well as among politicians and others... It's all the SAME cult and countless ppl have joined it and admitted doing so publicly. If you want to know some history behind the Cult, watch Altiyan Child's video on YT about freemasons.
http://www.theopenscroll.com/hosting/SatanicCalendar.htm
From Coffee and Covid Substack (Childers, J) "Finally, alert readers pointed out this is the second sudden, unexpected tragedy for the band in under a year. Last June, the Foo Fighter’s stage manager, Andrew Pollard, also died suddenly and unexpectedly. The 45-year-old father of two young children, Arlo and Ren, was — ironically — also found dead in his hotel room after retiring for the night. Pollard’s death came just a few weeks after the band began requiring proof of vaccination for fans to attend its concerts."
Is this the same foo Fighters that said we need to do the right thing and get vaxxed to take care of people's health and can't go to their shows unless you're vaxxed. Those Foo Fighters? They wouldn't do drugs, would they?
The same people on this thread touting lock up drug dealers and expand the war on drugs are the same ones who claim they believe in self sovereignty individual rights when it comes to the jab. What an adult decides to put in their own body is their own choice and right to do so. Be principled
I'm a fan of the band and liked Dave Grohl's book The Storyteller. I'm saddened by this. I have no idea what all of the factors were potentially contributing to Taylor Hawkins death and don't necessarily accept any initial reports at face value. But I do know this: My brother in law did a lot of coke in the eighties and nineties and has very, very serious heart damage to show for it now, even though he's been clean for years. (And he's not vaxxed either.)
I think it's the height of irony that we so often hear the loudest cries for egalization from the same folks who are so fearful of putting FDA approved drugs in their bodes. I recall seeing pts who were drug addicts and had tried just about every illegal drug on the street but refused to take their cholesterol or BP meds because of possible side effects. Marijuana's negative effect on the brains of young people (my son being one) are so dangerous precisely because the acute effects are relatively rare and mild.
My sympathies for your son - hope he is in recovery. Was at the vet many years ago and 2 functioning junkies were making the decision to put their beloved old german shepherd to sleep in lieu of putting him on pain meds because they "didn't want him depending upon drugs...". Truly heartbreaking for the owners, the vet, the witnesses and of course a good old faithful dog.
Your son is personally responsible for his failures, not the millions of others who are the victims of your warped and brainwashed thinking. Rick aka Freedom_First(at)verizon(dot)net
OP docfjs do not listen to this joker. Rick Jefferson - guessing you have never walked in docfjs's shoes and hope you don't, but do not be so flippant about mental illness and its triggers. Nice world you live in, boiled down to black or white, right or wrong. You lack compassion.
Vaxxed, boosted, and died of heart attack.