Deaths of Americans in Wars or not and the Party of the president?
[QUOTE=Tiny12;2941932]Antithetical and emblematic. Is that an oxymoron?
You posted:
The solution lies at the state and local level. Communities and states, not the Feds, can change drug laws, and push counseling, rehabilitation and jobs programs for addicts. And, at the state level, apparently the "do nothing Repubs" aren't doing too badly in stemming the fentanyl / opioid crisis in Nebraska, or Texas for that matter. In fact nine of the ten states with the lowest death rates from overdoses are red. Still, I don't believe there's necessarily a correlation between Democratic or Republican policies and the number of addicts and overdoses. If what you say were correct, then you'd think there would be, and a lot more people, per capita, would be dying in red states. But that's not the case.
Never pass up an opportunity to bring up Republican gaslighting on slavery or Black History when you're focused on America getting past its differences. I believe Reagan's War on Drugs was stupid. Furthermore, I don't believe sealing the border air tight is a practical solution. I far favor something like Checkmate's "Portuguese solution," back when Portugal was devoting sufficient resources to the problem to make it work. Admittedly we could do like some countries and just start executing drug addicts and traffickers. That would be the most effective solution. But not acceptable to me because I don't believe in capital punishment. And for that matter on telling people what they can and can't ingest, unless it's something really destructive like fentanyl.
That said, if anything, Reagan's War on Drugs decreased illegal drug consumption in the USA. But at what cost? Attacking the demand side, preferably through getting counseling and jobs for addicts instead of locking them up, is more productive than going after traffickers in Colombia and Mexico.
Yes, Reagan's War on Drugs, like Bush's War on Terror, should never have been waged. And perhaps without the Obama / Biden War on Coal and the Biden War on Natural Gas, West Virginia wouldn't be at the top of the chart of states with the most drug overdoses. I imagine poverty and joblessness are correlated with use of fentanyl and opioids, and Obama and Biden took away the West Virginian's jobs.
Well, please feel free to look at the data. I'm not falling for that one a second time. Re-state my case and you might read my post or look at the data points. I'm not Charlie Brown and you're not Lucy.
[B]You and Tooms are happy to make spurious correlations between the party of the president and employment and GDP growth. And ignore the real, underlying reasons for changes in employment and GDP growth. However, if the spurious correlation works against the case for "Democrats are good, Republicans are bad," like with deaths of Americans in wars and party of the president, or states with the lowest rates of deaths from drug overdoses, then you're willing to dig deeper and look at the fundamentals.[/b] So I guess there is a silver lining here. You're doing your homework! And I do mostly agree with you about the War on Drugs and the border crisis as it relates to drug overdoses.[/QUOTE]With at least a Million American Deaths from Repub Trump's Pandemic added to Repub Lincoln's Civil War, Repub Eisenhower's Vietnam War, Repub GW Bush's Iraq War, Afghanistan War, etc, I didn't think anyone would want to keep tally of the number of American Deaths due to Repub vs Dem (mostly elective and not forced upon us) policies and stewardship as some bizarre slam on Dem results and outcomes.
But there it is.
If only the number of American jobs created vs LOST due to Repub presidents' policies and stewardship remotely matched the impressive number of American Deaths due to those Repub presidents' policies and stewardship, you might have something on your side worth arguing.
All as the result of a remarkable, some would say impossible, series of wild coincidences, magical economic cycles, bad luck for Repub potuses vs good luck for Dem potuses, that rumored witch's curse and all that over the past 170+ years, of course.
Here is another non spurious Mainstream Media report that has been largely ignored since we and they knew about it more than four critical years and now 3 critical election seasons ago:
[B]Under Fire For Coronavirus Response, Trump Officials Defend Disbanding Pandemic Team.
March 18, 2020[/B]
[URL]https://time.com/5806558/administration-officials-fight-criticism/[/URL]
[QUOTE]Anticipating the likely investigation into their handling of the coronavirus outbreak, current and former Trump Administration officials are starting to push back on widespread allegations that the Administrations cuts to critical global health staffing and funding may have hampered its response. Much of that attention has focused on the 2018 disbanding of a National Security Council unit focused on pandemic preparedness, which critics say left a leadership vacuum in global health security at the White House.
............
Another former administration official, speaking anonymously in order to describe discussions with the President, placed the blame on Trump himself, who initially praised Beijing for its handling of the outbreak. "The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency," Trump tweeted Jan. 24. "It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!" Trump has now shifted to blaming China for being too slow to notify the international community, but the intervening weeks muddled the message the commander in chief was sending to Americans about the origin and scope of the threat.
"Basically, the President hates to admit to anything that could affect the economic success negatively and equally important, never wants to say anything about Xi Jin Ping or China that might impact the trade deal, the official says. Some have said its kind of a blindness."[/QUOTE]
Ahhh well, c'est la vie? Opportunities come and go...
[QUOTE=Tiny12;2941928] ... Good you didn't fall for Spidy's request for data and info. He would have just figured out a way to ignore it.[/QUOTE]Yeah, no doubt! But I would have loved, to have been given, the opportunity to ignore it! (... kkkk!)
No, state's rights is NOT the answer, but pure hubris...
[QUOTE=Tiny 12;2941932]Antithetical and emblematic. Is that an oxymoron?
You posted:[/QUOTE]You tell me, is it an oxymoron? And Yeah, I know what I wrote!
As far as oxymorons go, your post suggesting Repubs and their "state's rights" (when convenient), is the "solution" IS DEFINITELY an oxymoron.
I see very little evidence of the notion, that Repubs and ruby red states, would serve and protect the rights of ALL Americans, residing in their state, equally and with out prejudices, if left to their own devices, is folly and a large amount of hubris.
[QUOTE=Tiny 12;2941932]The solution lies at the state and local level. Communities and states, not the Feds, can change drug laws, and push counseling, rehabilitation and jobs programs for addicts [/QUOTE] Yeah, you should have led with this in your first reply to my post. Perhaps then, your post would have contextually made sense.
But I think you'd be wrong. Long story short, as I alluded to in my initial post on the subject, basically Repubs can't be trusted to carry out and do the right thing for ALL American residents, living in their state. Their "culture war" politics are too divisive and not inclusive.
Just look at voting rights, LGBTQ rights, abortion, Mifepristone, IVF and book (dictionary) bans are great examples of Repubs and red states, having no intention of keeping these issues, as only "state rights" issues or applying them equally to their constituency. I am in favor of an top down approach, to ensure consistent uniformity in basic decriminalization rights, every American would have no matter the state.
And NOT like the voting system, that is a disastrous, hodgepodge of "state's rights" laws, made up to gerrymander, suppress and deny legal American citizens their right to vote, so as to artificially hold onto power. As with voting rights, Repubs can't be trusted to do the right thing.
[u]Texas as a prime example:[/u]
Take the State of Texas, where Gov. Abbott, has created new a voting law, to give him powers to "suspend" (ie. suppress and purge) +2 million [b]registered voters[/b] from voter lists.
[b]Texas has removed a million people from the voter rolls. Why are we finding out now?[/b], Aug 30, 2024
[URL]https://www.tpr.org/news/2024-08-30/texas-has-removed-a-million-people-from-the-voter-rolls-why-are-we-finding-out-now[/URL]
And when "suspending" voters doesn't work, Gov. Abbott, decides to weaponize the Texas AG (Ken Paxton), LE and the police, to kick-down doors and harass tax paying American citizen voters, who's ONLY "crime" has been, according to Gov. Abbott, is NOT voting for him and the Repub Party.
[i]Texas AG raids homes of Latino civil rights group members, setting up a voting rights showdown[/i], Aug 27, 2024. [URL]https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/house-raids-texas-democrats-ken-paxton-voting-rights-lulac-rcna168216[/URL]
[i]Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton [b]raids Latino Democrats' homes[/b], including those of LULAC members[/i], Aug 26, 2024. [URL]https://www.cbsnews.com/news/texas-attorney-general-ken-paxton-raids-latino-democrats-lulac-homes/[/URL]
[QUOTE=Tiny 12;2941932]Never pass up an opportunity to bring up Republican gaslighting on slavery or Black History when you're focused on America getting past its differences.
[/QUOTE] Good advice! I always thought, it helps to clear the air, before hand and gets everyone focused on the right path to justice. Don't you feel better, already? I know I do!
[QUOTE=Tiny 12;2941932]I believe Reagan's War on Drugs was stupid. Furthermore, I don't believe sealing the border air tight is a practical solution. I far favor something like Checkmate's "Portuguese solution," back when Portugal was devoting sufficient resources to the problem to make it work... [/QUOTE] Glad you agree, because that's exactly what I said. If American's had even 20 of those 40+ years (of "The War on Drugs"), put into funding a 'Portuguese solution', it's a good bet we'd be having a very different kind of conversation.
Since decriminalization, Portugal has gone from having one of the highest drug rates, to one of the lowest drug addiction rates in Europe. Now I'm pretty sure that if this type of drug rehabilitation program, where Portugal decriminalized small amounts of "hard" and "soft" drugs, WERE NOT initiated by the Feds, as a nationwide program, Repub Conservatives, [b]would sooner have their heads explode than to accept such a thing.[/b]
As funny as, Repubs Conservative, exploding heads maybe, it would be, "a cold day in HELL", before any such laws by their own making, to the decriminalizing of small amounts of "hard" and "soft" drugs, would ever pass muster, in their ruby red states.
Meaning, as I stated in my initial post, Repubs and Conservatives would rather continue to demonize drug users with addiction problems and use it as campaign fodder (especially against minority residents) for [i][b]"tougher police and LE measures"[/b][/i], than to ACTUALLY SOLVE the problem.
So that's an unequivocal...NO!!! I think you're wrong, and leaving it up to "state's rights", IS NOT the answer or the solution!
[b]PS:[/b] [i]BTW, that [b]'Portuguese solution'[/b], that you favor so much, was created, adopted and implemented by a leftist Portugal government.
So tell me, is it just "off with their heads" or does such a program even exist, anywhere in the world, currently under a right-wing gov't (or didn't inherit it, from a left-wing gov't)? (Note: Confirming the point, I was making in my initial post on the subject.)[/i]
Dead people shouldn't vote
Agree!
Instead of purging millions of from the voter roll as in Texas. How about an easier solution, costing almost nothing relative to the endless on going political battles. Here's a thought:
Example (opinion):
CA has about 313 K in deaths in 2022, divide that by 260 (number of days a single employee work each year), divide that by 8 hours, and you have 150 per day of data entry to remove from roll. Now you say, "well that's to much for a single person to verify each day. " Okay, we'll hire 10 people at $60 K a year, that's $600 K a year total, or about 1 lawyer's pay to work on this crap. 3 to maintain the roll ongoing, and the other 7 will work backward to clean up the previous years. Once the 7 are caught up with all the backward data, they can end that contract. Instead of going to courts year after year to fight this non-problem problem costing soooo much more money.
Death data source: [URL]https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/death-rate-per-100000/?currentTimeframe=0&sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22[/URL],%22 sort%22:%22 asc%22%7 D
Gov. Abbot, social polices, just good fun kicking down doors?
[QUOTE=Tiny 12;2942261]Where did I write anything about states rights? [/QUOTE]
Arrh Here:
[QUOTE=Tiny 12;2941932][b]The solution lies at the state and local level. Communities and states,[/b] not the Feds, can change drug laws, and push counseling, rehabilitation and jobs programs for addicts...[/QUOTE] If drug decriminalization isn't handled by the Febs, and YOU say [b]"the solution lies at the state..."[/b] level, then if that's not state's rights, then what is it?
[QUOTE=Tiny 12;2942261]Good luck having the federal government run a program like Portugal's. It fucks up everything it touches.[/QUOTE] The leftist Feds in Portugal say otherwise, proving once again, societies around the world are generally better ran by center left or left liberals democratic parties.
Face it, the gullible Repubs have essentially turned into muppets. So just like Trump, under Trumps influence, everything they touch...turns to shit! Ergo, can't be TRUSTED!
[QUOTE=Tiny 12;2942261]As to Governor Abbott, now who's off topic. I strongly disagree with some of [b]his preferred social policies.[/b] Whatever he's doing with voter rolls probably will work to the benefit of Democrats[/QUOTE] In case you missed it, Gov. Abbott, is just the latest case of grade A assholes exerting fascist rule, that the Repubs have descended into, trying desperately to hang onto power. The hubris of Gov. Abbott doing anything to benefit Dems, is very comical to say the least. With that kinda help, who needs enemies. (...kkkk!)
[i]Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton [b]raids Latino Democrats' homes[/b], including those of LULAC members[/i], Aug 26, 2024. [URL]https://www.cbsnews.com/news/texas-attorney-general-ken-paxton-raids-latino-democrats-lulac-homes/[/URL]
So when did kicking down the doors and harassing American citizens and state residents become [b]social polices.[/b] I hate to see his anti-social policies! (...kkkk!)
I wouldn't trust Repubs to judge, grade or be trustworthy enough to implement a 4th Grade finger painting contest. But sure enough Americans will undoubtedly, tell Repubs, just what they think of them [b]come ROEvember. [/b]
[i][b]PS:[/b] Keep in mind TEXAS is just a blue state, temporarily posing as a red one, with a thinly cloaked red wrapper with noticeable cracks forming. Maybe just a matter of time before it turns blue![/i]
The stealthy "okey doke", gotcha moment...
[QUOTE=Tiny 12;2941928]Excellent, well-written post. The only thing substantive I'd disagree with is Trump's 2nd impeachment. He deserved it, and should have been convicted by the Senate. But yes, the lawsuits and prosecutions in New York were shams. He lost because the cases were tried in Manhattan, and people in Manhattan hate him. The part about societal design and a true perfect utopia is satire, right?
Good you didn't fall for Spidy's request for data and info. He would have just figured out a way to ignore it.[/QUOTE]
Ahhh YES, that "well written" and rousing unfounded opinion piece, essentially all about, [i][b]"The opinion that, there are NO FACTS, NO DATA, NO INFO, just opinions and only opinions...",[/b][/i] was most definitely a treat of gobbledygook and gish gallop, the likes of which would put some well known ISG conspiracists to shame.
However, to the untrained eye and the uninitiated, the rant, did manage to provided the perfect [i][b]"hook and bait"[/b][/i] invitation, to those who would be gullible enough to follow, RamDavidson 84 down his own fictional [i]"NO Facts, NO DATA...ONLY Opinions"[/i] rabbit hole.
And as it so happens, I was watching to see who'd take the bait. Well imagine my surprise, we have a winner! I guess congratulations are in order, Tiny 12?
But now that I think about it, it does rather explain a lot, since you are, overly fond of the [i][b]"world of political hypotheticals and conjecture"?[/b][/i]
And BTW, he may not of fallen, for my so called "okey doke", when I simply asked RamDavidson 84, to provide FACTS/LINKS to substantiate his "opinions", but dare I say, [i][b]you certainly did fall for his "okey doke"[/b][/i] (...kkkk!)
Should be quite the ride, down...enjoy!
Economy no longer #1 issue for women...
When the economy is not top of mind for voters, but instead, women rights, abortion rights and other social issues are supplanted as the #1 issues and policies Americas want to address, it that impending doom for Repubs?
[b]More Voters, Especially Women, Now Say Abortion Is Their Top Issue[/b]
[URL]https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/31/us/elections/abortion-polls-women-trump-harris.html[/URL]
[b]And:[/b]
[QUOTE=Washington Post][b]A louder voice in fighting abortion bans: Men in red states [/b]
"More men are speaking out in defense of reproductive rights because of harrowing experiences that wives or partners have suffered when a pregnancy went awry."
[URL]https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/09/03/abortion-bans-pregnancy-miscarriage-men/[/URL][/QUOTE]
For those ISG conspiracists on "Soy Boy" watch, it appears there's been a good crop this year, of "soy" in red states.
Could be contagious, though? So ISG conspiracists, misogynists and He-Men, might wanna consider getting your "Anti-Soy Boy" vaccine shots! Oh right vaccines aren't your thing! (....kkkk!)
Let's hope it does become contagious...all the way to ROEvember!!!
