Castanza

Why does everyone have such a hard-on for WWII comparisons or more accurately Hitler comparisons? It’s not even in the same league at this point. Ukraine is not Czechoslovakia and Putin is not Hitler. You’re comparing apples or oranges and a t-ball player to a Major Leaguer. I swear it’s like the pro war people want Putin to push that button. People here in the US are so sheltered from war. Let’s do a nationwide poll: 1. Do you support the war in Ukraine 2. Do you support US troops in Ukraine? If you’ve answered YES to 1 but not 2, congratulations you just entered the draft. If you answered YES to 1 & 2 congratulations you ship out for basic training in two weeks.

It is still mind boggling to me that the West is not collectively pushing for peace negotiations. the US and the West can’t continue to get in nuclear standoffs over every single border dispute for countries who’s borders have been ever changing over the last 75 years. Zoom out and think about this war and the position of the West from a 30,000 foot view with a humanity based perspective. There were individuals who fought in the US Civil War that lived long enough to see the testing of Ivy Mike in the Pacific. If you put the Civil War on the event timeline of human history you can basically conclude that it was almost a nuclear war. We got lucky by a factor of nothing on the timeline of human history. The difference between muskets or atomic bombs being used was a blink of an eye on the timescale. The US and the West should be doing everything in their power to prevent standoffs like this now and in the future. It’s a fools errand and luck will eventually run out.

Morning Brew Daily Upside both reasonably good daily email services. Short sweet to the point

Rates are down since the 90's but the rate at which they increased over the past 5 years is I believe what most are worried about. Couldn't find any drug stats on NYPD website. Different dynamics today with the current street drugs and homeless population. https://www.nyc.gov/site/nypd/stats/stats.page Raw Data chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/downloads/pdf/analysis_and_planning/historical-crime-data/misdemeanor-offenses-2000-2022.pdf chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/downloads/pdf/analysis_and_planning/historical-crime-data/seven-major-felony-offenses-2000-2022.pdf chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/downloads/pdf/analysis_and_planning/historical-crime-data/non-seven-major-felony-offenses-2000-2022.pdf

LOL you're making excuses for this? Really? Pretty well documented that violent and non-violent crime is up like 30-50% since 2020 in most big cities. I understand there is crime everywhere and that the vast majority of people are law abiding. That doesn't account for the outlier events we have been seeing over the past 2 years. Continue to defund the police, hand out drugs, reduce jail time, fines, bail and this will continue to get worse. What's the ratio here that makes you feel comfortable? Is it 10:1? Old man sitting on a park bench feeding the Pigeons =/= 1 Target being looted Kid giving up his bus seat for a pregnant woman =/= 1 Walmart being looted ___________________ Throw in all the other stuff like lack of resources for the homeless or ways to mitigate it. Rent control, reduced landlord rights, wasted tax money on frivolous community pursuits and it's a decent recipe to get people to leave. Can't say it's the worst it's ever been though. Maybe just different. But perception is more easily spread today due to technology/media and that really is all that matters. Perception has never been more important in society than today.

Back to the city stuff. A society with zero consequences. How exactly does this not drive people out?

Well if you want to fix shootings in this country you address the things that have changed and lead to the issues over time. Since Kennedy the mental institutions have gone the way of the Dodo. Instead of reforming them they simply got rid of them. Depression, anxiety, suicides, prescription drug use, street drug use all are at or near all time highs and way above other areas in the world. Im not 100% opposed to some type of gun reform or licensure system, but it needs to be done correctly and at the end of the day I don’t think it’s going to be the most fruitful course of action as it’s a bandaid solution to an underlying issue. - Mental health issues - Drug and gang related issues Sebastian Junger has some really interesting work in these areas. Questions and observations he makes. - lots of countries have lots of guns - lots of countries have crazy people - most of the senseless mass shootings happen in Middle class areas. They don’t happen in inner cities - suburban areas are where people can most easily isolate themselves. There is often less communal activities outside of Church. - depression and anxiety and prescription drug use grow in tandem WITH and increase in wealth. - technology and social media have drastically increased the ability to isolate and as a result the increase in depression/anxiety and use of prescription drugs Its a really interesting observation that literally the American Dream type life is where you’re most at risk for a mass shooting. But you’re probably less likely to get mugged going to the store or to experience other forms of crime.

How are they different issues? The same people doing the drag story time with kids are the same ones out in the weekends saying we need to let kids get gender affirming surgery without the parents consent. Washington Stage just passed bill 5599 that gives parents no recourse if their kid wants to run off and get gender affirming surgery. Who exactly do you think is pushing these ideas. Your view of the situation in scope is about the same as an ostrich with its head in the sand. You said you would take your kids to drag story time. Great…are you also taking your kids to strip clubs? Are you good with local ministers coming in to school to have Bible story time with kids? Something tells m you’re not. Maybe we should bring in some crack heads and they can demonstrate how to properly pack a crack pipe and then blow the smoke up someones ass. There ARE things in society that are NOT appropriate for children. Sexual material is most definitely one. Drag is sexual in nature. The majority of the issue is the dishonesty around the facts. And the forced/shady nature of discussion, much of which is happening without parents consent. I pay taxes for public school and I have a stake in knowing that the school is teaching proven science and facts and that the teachers/counselors working there aren’t “grooming” my child and the. Telling them to not tell their parents. Replace this trans ideology sharing in the above example with say drugs. If teachers were telling kids to “explore” drugs without actually giving them any, but showing them all the resources they need to do them and acquire them; and then telling them to not say anything to your parents would you not be outraged? It shouldn’t be happening for ANY topic outside of the school curriculum that is supposed to be public knowledge.

Very good post and I agree with everything you said. Most people are middle of the road and just want some damn normalcy from our leaders. Instead we get stuff like this which was just passed in Washington State yesterday. It gives the state the right to void parental consent. I don’t like the extreme on either end. Regarding gun culture I cannot stand the “gun bro” culture. I think it does a disservice to the tool and society. If you want guns, great own them but respect them for the tool they are and quit trying to act like Billy Badass. Most of the problems we have in society right now are propagated by the vocal minority in both ends of the spectrum. The stuff Greg had to deal with at a restaurant is just as ridiculous. Keep your business to yourself. If someone wants to do something they will seek it out in their own. I don’t see the political atmosphere getting any better in the US anytime soon. It’s been decades since we had a good leader. Now we have hypocritical insider traders, people with fake accents, clearly mentally unstable individuals in offices all over from both parties. As Richard and Bluegold said above it’s a political paradox and nobody good will ever run. I agree 1000% with you on social media. Yeah there is some good that’s come from it, but by and large I think it’s been one big negative for society.

I’m sure this will help clean up the streets of NYC

Sports stadiums are up there too

Yet you spent days debating theology, morality, and the existence of God on the other thread I care about the above to the extent that they affect ME, End of story.

Plenty of groups are told they're "wrong" every day in America. The idea that as a you can't question something and should just accept it is nonsense. But you SHOULD TOLERATE it. Those are two different things. Freedom of opposing viewpoints and thought is what helped make America the country it is. But as Greg said, you can't even say someone is fat anymore. I mean America has had an obesity crisis for decades and our final solution as a country is to just accept that? I mean weight related issues are the number one cause of death in the country. It was a primary co-morbidity during covid. It doesn't make sense. Do people come in all different sizes? Yes. Should people be respected? yes. Should heavier people have brands catering specific clothing lines, gear, etc. to them? Yes. Should we be shitting on people who are fit? No, Should we be saying it's ok and "good" to be fat? No. I think about that from a universal healthcare standpoint. Tbh why should I be forced to pay and care about your health status when you don't even care about it yourself? The country can do better on issues like this, but nobody wants to have real honest conversations because some people might "feel bad." so it's impossible to address. Anyways this is way off topic now. I've avoided politics on here for the better part of a year but this topic drug me back in.

Exactly, and o think a lot of the issue is because you’ve mixed two wildly different things together. Being gay is nowhere near trans imo. They are about as far apart as Democrat and Republican.

I would Now if my kid said they were some variation of pansexual she wolf and they want me to use 10 different pronouns based on the day of the week. I’ll be getting them some counseling and following up with the adults in their sphere of influence.

Never said I had problems with “gays”. Don’t put words in my mouth.

Exactly, and not to mention all the negative health effects that come with hormone replacement therapy, chemical castration, puberty blockers and sex change surgeries. All of these have increased risk levels of infections, diseases and cancer. @dwy000 Live and let live is fine. I don't care if someone wants to cut off their arms and legs and chooses to identify as a bowling pin. But that has no place in the public school system or at the tops of government buildings. I don't want teachers or people who have their own personal ideologies forcing this stuff on my children or taking advantage of them and then telling them to "keep it from their parents." It's happening all over the place. I don't want that nonsense taught, the same way I don't want flat earth, young earth or scientology taught. If you choose to do something as an individual that is not the norm in society, you don't get to then dictate the rules for everyone else and force legislation on them. As Sweet said, it's damaging to the gay community. I'll also add it's damaging to women, its damaging to men, it's damaging to science, healthcare and the list continues. Institutions are to educate not indoctrinate. Doctors are to "Do no harm" Society needs norms rooted in objective truth to function. Your brain isn't even fully developed till you're like 25. You think a prepubescents teen knows what they "should be." Some kids think they are dogs at 6 maybe we should put a leash on them, change their name to Sparky and feed them kibbles. What ever happened to the idea of adults and specifically parents guiding their kids through life and helping them overcome or make sense of confusing things? The idea that you can be born in the wrong body is insane and unscientific. 10 years ago is you were a 18 year old male and went to the doctor asking for a vasectomy's you would likely be turned away with the response of "you need more time to think about this decision" . Now you can go at 15 and ask to have your balls cut off, your penis turned inside out and have estrogen pumped into your system. That's not healthcare.

First of all I have ZERO problem with people being gay. I have gay friends even went to a gay wedding. I have a problem with trans because it is a mental disorder. I have a problem with teaching this unscientific cult like nonsense to children in the public school system. I have a problem with legislation that takes the rights of consent away from parents for underage children. I have a problem with the trans communities obsession with sexualizing young kids. You don't have to accept that and that's fine. But I think you should do more research before you jump on the bandwagon. The idea that people cannot be "nurtured" into something is laughable at best. Here is just one case that took all but five seconds to find. https://t.co/vjIYwBdu15 pic.twitter.com/4RPXG1o7zg Oh and a few more "normal clearly sound of mind individuals" for you.... Go check out the channel https://www.youtube.com/@TheQuartering/shorts

Wtf does this have to do with Donald Trump? But last I checked he was the he who signed Gay Marriage into law. What rights are being restricted? Epstein is trash and his list was full of elites from all over. Again, completely irrelevant to the conversation. I'll make this my last post on the topic only to say I think society needs to figure out what is appropriate in inappropriate. What has and hasn't changed as far as humans go and what framework makes sense moving forward. Personally I want to live in one that embraces reality and truth the same way 2 + 2 = 4. I think we should understand the consequences of the trans/sex change surgeries before foisting them on kids. So far the data does not look good. Cancer extremely high rates with hormone therapy and puberty blockers. Also very high increase rates post surgery. Mental improvements have been shown to be very little if any as suicide rates rise. I would gladly pay much more in taxes to address the multitude to mental problems that plague society currently. And it's my personal opinion that drugs, media, the internet and more specifically social media have had a major impact on all of the above. Time will tell. Again, you think the “group” is much smaller than it is. This type of stuff below is happening all over. You good with this? Someone who regrets their “transition”

Should have said roots* and I was referring to the John Money Alfred Kinsey stuff. Where the idea of trans comes from and their failed and sick experiments, terrible outcomes.

Im not ok with it in any form. My point is you and many others like to use Catholic Priests or churches as some cornerstone argument. When you look at the stats it’s the same as the general population. Anyone who does it should be castrated. You know what they use to castrate sex offenders? The same drug they use to castrate children’s getting sex changes. Your second statement is completely false. The suicide rate doesn’t change after surgery. We live in a world that is more accepting than ever of this. Frankly your level of research into the topic is appallingly dismal. The dude on the BudLight can is an adult male who pretends to be a little girl. Who does it harm? I think it harms society. It harms kids and confuses people in vulnerable mental states. Idk about you but I think a society that has objective truth is important. It’s completely unscientific and lunacy. Laws and legislation affect me.

https://www.city-journal.org/article/a-certain-madness-amok/ Yup here is a relevant one.

The twin that started it all with John Money regretted it and blew his brains out. The very first one. It’s mind boggling how little people know about the roots of the “trans” movement. Kinsey would sexually assault kids and babies and track how many organisms they had. Then in classic Hollywood fashion they make a movie about him starring Liam Neeson and give it rave reviews.

The molestation rate among the Catholic Church is in line with the general population. The suicide rate alone of the trans community speaks for itself. There are tons of people who regret it. There are tons of kids who are pushed into it by their psycho parents. If you don’t see that you aren’t looking close enough. There is a non small percentage of teachers who actively tell and “groom” kids to be gay, bi, non binary etc. It happens more places than you think. Here in my town a teacher was telling boys in elementary school who were just bros and best friends that “maybe your relationship is more than you think” and the. Explaining to 7 and 8 years olds what they meant in further detail. You really think kids can’t be tricked or pushed to believe things?

Lol not that he shouldn’t have been arrested but I hear your point. Ran into a former teacher this past year. Asked why he retired and he said “I got out once I realized the inmates were running the show” lmao pretty much how society is at this point.