I am an Air Force brat. I have lived in Texas and Florida. Living somewhere is different than traveling through for business or pleasure. It means you live on the ambient economy with all that implies. You have to try to get along with those who were born there and who live there. You are nothing more than a temporary stranger. Your only help is that you come from the US government. In the South, that is always a bad thing. You live in the ambient culture's structures as enforced by people. You obey their rules to stay alive and unharmed. This column fits well with what I experienced in the 'south' as represented by Texas and Florida. In Texas I was raped at two and five by common consent. By the time I lived in Florida, I had learned to keep my mouth shut and my behavior acceptable to the local populace. It is how I stayed alive and unharmed. Yes, I ignored and stayed away from the locals. I knew I would be leaving soon. However, there, females and poor males were always wrong. People with money at birth were always right. These two conditions were used to evaluate people and dole out repercussions. What are we to do about this? Hard to say, since this is an ancient form of government (rule of the rich over the poor, slavery accepted and approved, all females wrong except when kissing the appropriate nether regions of some local guy or guys, and just shut up and do as you are told.) Indeed, what do you do about this social arrangement that has existed in this country for over 400 years, and on Earth itself for as long as we have records?
I've always marveled that the pro-life republicans are all for the death penalty and the anti-death penalty progressives are pro-abortion. As a Canadian, we take progressiveness to the outer limits. We outlawed the death penalty but allow abortions and medically assisted suicide on demand. Head scratcher.
From the article: Death visits too many newborns and new mothers, especially in the delta counties and southern gulf plain.
Keeping abortion widely available would keep more babies from dying? How but changing their timing of death?
From the article: But where the death penalty is applied, the threshold standards for a death sentence should be as rigorous and difficult to meet as possible. Few things are as serious as the authorization of lethal force by the state against its citizens.
Unless they are completely innocent in their mother's womb then it should be super easy to execute them? Good grief. It should be extremely hard to execute a criminal but even harder to kill a baby.
This is tautological, as we’d both have to agree on the heated issue of “when life begins” to answer your first question. The broader point is that, despite a great deal of concern for unborn children, pregnant women and newborns face a wholly inadequate health care environment.
From the Article: But were I to accept the ludicrous premise that the Constitution does in fact endow each an every American the right to stalk their communities armed to the teeth, with no processes in place to assess their competencies or fitness, such a document would be the greatest deal death ever struck.
May I ask for the evidence that these laws have done away with back ground checks or other laws that restrict legal gun ownership? Have Florida's red flag laws been repealed? If no such evidence exists should this false statement not be removed from the article?
No, only one state that passed permitless carry through 2022 require a background check, and a half dozen states stripped out red flag precautions when passing permitless carry.
From the article: of the right’s commitment to unfettered access to weapons of war.
The right's commitment to unfettered access to "weapons of war" what are these weapons of war? Also there was a time when the "right" in the South was very interested in restricting "weapons of war" from people and had some of the most strict gun control laws in the the nation. I am a little shocked that Mr. Elrod would pine for such a time in the South again. It is best left in the past with other many violations of people's civil rights.
I think it’s in fairly shocking bad faith for you to suggest that this piece somehow endorses racist 19th century laws for disarming Black people. I’m fine with the fact that we clearly disagree about gun control, but I’m not about to politely let you fit me for a klan hood.
While Mr. Elrod was unsurprisingly lucid and clear in his disdain for (some of) the representatives his neighbors have voted for, I found little nuance or suggestions for positive change. I realize his institution is working towards that, but to what avail?
I personally don't like the idea of pardons and hope to never have need of one. The recipients have been (supposedly) fairly tried and, I imagine, had the opportunity to appeal said conviction(s), without respect to their resources.
I don’t get into policy solutions, that’s fair. Although I think some fixes are implied: expand healthcare for pregnant women in the rural south, repeal hyper-restrictive abortion bans, don’t pass permitless carry, restrict access to assault weapons, and don’t make it easier for juries to hand down death penalty sentences.
I am an Air Force brat. I have lived in Texas and Florida. Living somewhere is different than traveling through for business or pleasure. It means you live on the ambient economy with all that implies. You have to try to get along with those who were born there and who live there. You are nothing more than a temporary stranger. Your only help is that you come from the US government. In the South, that is always a bad thing. You live in the ambient culture's structures as enforced by people. You obey their rules to stay alive and unharmed. This column fits well with what I experienced in the 'south' as represented by Texas and Florida. In Texas I was raped at two and five by common consent. By the time I lived in Florida, I had learned to keep my mouth shut and my behavior acceptable to the local populace. It is how I stayed alive and unharmed. Yes, I ignored and stayed away from the locals. I knew I would be leaving soon. However, there, females and poor males were always wrong. People with money at birth were always right. These two conditions were used to evaluate people and dole out repercussions. What are we to do about this? Hard to say, since this is an ancient form of government (rule of the rich over the poor, slavery accepted and approved, all females wrong except when kissing the appropriate nether regions of some local guy or guys, and just shut up and do as you are told.) Indeed, what do you do about this social arrangement that has existed in this country for over 400 years, and on Earth itself for as long as we have records?
I've always marveled that the pro-life republicans are all for the death penalty and the anti-death penalty progressives are pro-abortion. As a Canadian, we take progressiveness to the outer limits. We outlawed the death penalty but allow abortions and medically assisted suicide on demand. Head scratcher.
From the article: Death visits too many newborns and new mothers, especially in the delta counties and southern gulf plain.
Keeping abortion widely available would keep more babies from dying? How but changing their timing of death?
From the article: But where the death penalty is applied, the threshold standards for a death sentence should be as rigorous and difficult to meet as possible. Few things are as serious as the authorization of lethal force by the state against its citizens.
Unless they are completely innocent in their mother's womb then it should be super easy to execute them? Good grief. It should be extremely hard to execute a criminal but even harder to kill a baby.
This is tautological, as we’d both have to agree on the heated issue of “when life begins” to answer your first question. The broader point is that, despite a great deal of concern for unborn children, pregnant women and newborns face a wholly inadequate health care environment.
From the Article: But were I to accept the ludicrous premise that the Constitution does in fact endow each an every American the right to stalk their communities armed to the teeth, with no processes in place to assess their competencies or fitness, such a document would be the greatest deal death ever struck.
May I ask for the evidence that these laws have done away with back ground checks or other laws that restrict legal gun ownership? Have Florida's red flag laws been repealed? If no such evidence exists should this false statement not be removed from the article?
No, only one state that passed permitless carry through 2022 require a background check, and a half dozen states stripped out red flag precautions when passing permitless carry.
https://giffords.org/lawcenter/report/the-truth-about-permitless-carry/
How did they acquire their gun?
Have not heard anything on the victims of violence or the unborn victims of abortion discussed in the article.
From the article: of the right’s commitment to unfettered access to weapons of war.
The right's commitment to unfettered access to "weapons of war" what are these weapons of war? Also there was a time when the "right" in the South was very interested in restricting "weapons of war" from people and had some of the most strict gun control laws in the the nation. I am a little shocked that Mr. Elrod would pine for such a time in the South again. It is best left in the past with other many violations of people's civil rights.
I think it’s in fairly shocking bad faith for you to suggest that this piece somehow endorses racist 19th century laws for disarming Black people. I’m fine with the fact that we clearly disagree about gun control, but I’m not about to politely let you fit me for a klan hood.
While Mr. Elrod was unsurprisingly lucid and clear in his disdain for (some of) the representatives his neighbors have voted for, I found little nuance or suggestions for positive change. I realize his institution is working towards that, but to what avail?
I personally don't like the idea of pardons and hope to never have need of one. The recipients have been (supposedly) fairly tried and, I imagine, had the opportunity to appeal said conviction(s), without respect to their resources.
I don’t get into policy solutions, that’s fair. Although I think some fixes are implied: expand healthcare for pregnant women in the rural south, repeal hyper-restrictive abortion bans, don’t pass permitless carry, restrict access to assault weapons, and don’t make it easier for juries to hand down death penalty sentences.
It’s me