Bob, I'm an Electrical Engineer with a graduate degree. I am also a published historian (WW1 is my area of expertise) and I even speak multiple languages. And there are people that we are conversing with on this board that are even more educated and experienced than the two of us.Bob Butler wrote: ↑Mon Dec 18, 2023 7:25 amI was an engineer fighting communism working contracts for the military and intelligence agencies. I used my brain rather than carried a rifle. So, yes, I think myself smarter than most. I don’t see this as improper or part of some grand conspiracy. I just pushed my schoolwork a little harder than most and was able to do a job most couldn’t.
Our jails are filled with oppressed minorities rather than white collar criminals. (Trump.) If there is a double standard it is that the white collar crimes are not pressed enough. Yes, the guys at the top of organized crime organizations take more than their share. One might argue that the guys at the top of any organization decide who gets what share, and take too much.
The troublesome immigrants of late come from cultures oppressed generations ago. If we didn’t import black slaves, if we didn’t try to profit from Middle East oil, if we didn’t have a drug problem that corrupted Central America, we would not have built up relations with various troublesome minority groups. Unfortunately, we did. Pretending we didn’t won’t solve the resulting problems. Yes, the motivation was economic. That doesn’t make the social and criminal problems less.
A truly smart person looks at every potential angle and draws conclusions based on ALL evidence. Unfortunately, the liberal mind set is to only look at the problems of the other side (Trump for example) while ignoring the glaring problems on their own side (Biden / Pelosi for contrasting examples).
I have always said that Trump is a nefarious business person, someone of low standards who will cheat others at any opportunity (ask someone who invested in Trump stock or worked as a subcontractor for him). But I have also said that Biden is running a family influence pedaling racket, as is well pointed out in the book "Laptop from Hell", (which you should read by the way; its not a hit piece, just good old fashioned investigative journalism, of which we have so little nowadays). You are hell on Trump, but you give Biden a complete pass. Same probably for Pelosi, who is engaged in rampant insider trading of stock. Another great example is the aprox $1B that DeBlasio's wife had control over in NYC (the "mental health initiative" funds) that she handed out to her personal cronies. No accountability, no outcry. After all, she's "oppressed".
Any kind of crime is wrong and out to be punished accordingly. I actually agree that white collar crime is not punished severely enough. I would be ok with a minimum of 1yr incarceration for every $50k or so of graft/embezzlement/etc.
But the crime we are seeing now in the big cities, the looting of stores, the dramatic increase in violence, is not being perpetrated by the "oppressed" (and even if it were, they should still be held to the standard of the law). The riots of 1968 are far different from today. Back then you could make a logical argument that the rioters were oppressed. Not so today. Every advantage we can think of has been afforded minorities for decades. And, as has been pointed out here, if it were some type of systemic minority oppression, none of the minorities would have progressed. Yet many have.
The people going from the Middle East and Africa to Europe are doing so not because of colonialism or oppression. They are doing so to get away from the conditions created by their own cultures, while gladly accepting the handouts from the asylum granters that they then hate and commit crimes against. Same for the Central and South Americans coming into the USA. It is not just the drug cartels that their corrupt societies tolerate (even encourage), its the handouts that we give them, plus the actual tolerance for criminality on their behalf.
So Bob, use your above average intellect and look at BOTH sides. You will find error on both, but the ideas of liberalism/socialism will lead to far greater problems than those of the ideas of "equality before the law" and of self-sufficiency that are the core principles of conservatism.