Is America Liberal?

Some political voices decry “liberality” in American laws as if it were something evil.

However, consider the following three recent TRUE events.

In a certain town, along a well-traveled

Cuss…tomer Service, With A Smile!😄

You gotta’ feel for the folks on the other end of the phone in corporate Customer Care / Customer Service for various companies. Sometimes, they catch Hell. Seriously, they do.

Folks may sometimes call up mad as a hornet, irritated – for whatever reason – and then proceed to “take it out” on whoever answers the phone.

It’s a DIFFICULT job, to be certain, but someone’s gotta’ do it.

So… hat’s OFF to those unsung heroes of business enterprise!

Now, let’s get real… real hard, and really real.

Most folks, I would presume, don’t walk around with a chip on their shoulder. They’re not constantly engaging or berating themselves with conflicting internal dialogue, or hearing voices in their head. In other words, not only are they sane, they’re moderately happy, satisfied with life, and things in general. While there are occasions in which they become dissatisfied, angry, or upset, those very same sane people communicate, and collaborate with others to make others aware of problems, so that solutions and corrections to them may be made.

Of course, few would suppose that

How can you know if you’re in an Emotionally Abusive Relationship?

Just because there’s no physical violence, does that mean a relationship isn’t abusive?

No.

The adage, “can’t see the forest for the trees” is particularly true in emotionally abusive relationships, and it’s not uncommon for men and women in them to be unable to identify the relationship as being abusive.

Why is that?

It goes back to 1973 and an unsuccessful bank robbery in Stockholm, Sweden in which two perpetrators – both repeat offender prisoners – took four hostages, three women and one man. Over the six days they were held, the hostages began to identify and sympathize with their captors.

Hostages in the Norrmalmstorg Kreditbanken bank vault, Stockholm, Sweden. The 1973 robbery gave rise to the term “Stockholm Syndrome” which characterized a scenario in which captives sympathized with their captors.

As the standoff was ending, police called for the hostages to come out first, but the four captives – who protected their abductors to the very end – refused. One female hostage, 23-year old Kristin Enmark, called out, “No, Jan and Clark go first—you’ll gun them down if we do! We want to leave with the robber!”

When police seized the gunmen, two female hostages cried sympathetically, “Don’t hurt them – they didn’t harm us!”

When interviewed by investigators and others following the crisis’ conclusion, the hostages reported fearing Law Enforcement Officers’ rescue effort attempts, and felt their captors were protecting them from harm. The bonds formed during that stand-off had become so strong that there were reports of one female hostage who had been engaged to be married to one of the kidnappers – which was later discovered to be false, though it is true that one hostage developed a Legal Defense Fund to help pay the perpetrators’ criminal defense costs.

Researcher Ian K.Mackenzie wrote
in “Journal For Police Crisis Negotiations”
that Stockholm Syndrome consisted of:
“strong emotional ties that develop between two persons
where one person intermittently harasses, beats, threatens, abuses, or intimidates the other.”

Psychological researchers utilizing the FBI’s Hostage Barricade Database System (HOBAS) – the only entity that compiles national statistics on crisis incidents (hostage, barricade, and/or suicide) which are used in research and decision making – found that

A Better Argument For Alabama #ALpolitics To Legalize, Regulate & Tax Marijuana

Recently, on February 23, 2016, AL.com published an OpEd entitled “Would legalizing cannabis solve Alabama’s budget problems?” written by Reggie C. Pulliam, whom was identified as “a resident of Gulf Shores who has worked on public policy and criminal justice reform in Washington, D.C.”

I found his Op-Ed unconvincing because it’s poorly written.

The Colorado Department of Revenue reported that for December 2015 (State of Colorado Marijuana Taxes, Licenses, and Fees Transfers and Distribution December 2015 Sales Reported in January 2016), Total All Marijuana Taxes, Licenses, and Fees was $13,247,434.

The year-to-date increase was $4,689,293.

Based upon the December figure, on an annualized basis, that’s $158,969,208… which is not exactly chump change.
(See “Alabama Senate Approves Shifting $100 Million Away From Schools” published September 15, 2015.)

Linked here is the Colorado Department of Revenue’s Colorado Marijuana Tax Data.

Figuring into the state cost : benefit analysis & calculations also is a decrease in costs associated with

A Simple Solution to America’s Gun & Mass Shooting Problems

The Ingram MAC-11 (Military Armament Corporation Model 11), a defunct American small arms manufacturer, made this subcompact machine pistol developed during the 1970s. Shown here with 32-round capacity magazine, and suppressor.
Weight: 1.59 kg (3.50 lbs)
Length: 248 mm (9.76 in/20.90 in)
Barrel length: 129 mm
Cartridge: .380 ACP
Caliber: 9mm
Action: Straight Blowback
Rate of fire: 1200 /min
Muzzle velocity: 980 ft/s
Effective firing range: 50 m

There’s little debate of any significance about the problem of firearms in the hands of those who use them to commit heinous acts. This year alone, to date (as of this entry 27 August, the 239th day of 2015) there have been there have been:
248 Mass Shootings, with
313 Dead &
926 Wounded.

One only need type in ‘mass shootings’ in any search engine to find literally thousands upon thousands of news items, complete with details about this uniquely American problem. There is, however, significant and legitimate debate about how to ameliorate and stem the growing problem.

Some say no laws are needed, that LEOs (Law Enforcement Officers) need to enforce current laws. Others say outlaw guns completely. Somewhere, there is a “happy middle ground” of compromise to be found that protects our law-abiding citizens’ 2d Amendment Rights, and protects the innocent from miscreant would-be murderers and assailants.

I have a rather simple solution
to the
gun / mass shooting problem.

Dumb Dope Smugglers Lose Little Load

From the third episode of “dumberer & more dumberer” comes this asinine item.

—

Officials: Package at Daikin plant marijuana, not bomb

By Eric Fleischauer Staff Writer | Posted: Thursday, November 21, 2013 9:54 am

Authorities have determined a suspicious package attached to a rail car in Decatur was not a bomb but contained marijuana, Morgan County officials said.

The rail car contained toxic gas and was at the Daikin America plant on State Docks Road.

Investigators said they believe the marijuana had been on the rail car since it was in Mexico. They said the package was the size of a large telephone book and contained 1 to 2 kilograms of marijuana. They believe the rail car entered the United States in Brownsville, Texas.

The package was in the dome on top of the rail car. It was discovered when

Interview with Roger Young, a retired FBI Agent who specialized in child pornography and obscenity cases

NOTE: In ALL cases – WITHOUT exception – obscenity is illegal, as the SCOTUS has stated in Miller v California (1973). That case established a 3-pronged standard by which to determine if something was obscene, or not: It had to be utterly devoid of “serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.” That remains true today, just as it did then.

And now, just as then, child pornography remains illegal – practically on a worldwide scale. There are less than a handful of nations that do not penalize the possession or production of child pornography. The case of Traci Lords, who in 1984 when aged 15 deceived, and defrauded pornography producers by falsifying a government-issued ID in order to work in the industry is one case in point to illustrate. When it was learned a couple years later – shortly after her actual 18th birthday in 1986 – that her TRUE age at the time of production was NOT 18, ALL the material she had made up to that point was then destroyed by whomever had it, because for legal purposes, it would be, and was, considered child pornography. She continues to work in the entertainment industry today, but not in sexual entertainment.

Further, sex trafficking of adults also remains illegal now, just as it did then. And frequently, the individuals whom proffer human smuggling/trans-national transport-relocation services for individuals (females, primarily) to enter the United States, or other nations, are also involved in narcotics smuggling, and global organized crime syndicates.

It should be further borne in mind that almost all Christian, Muslim and Judaic religious traditions condemn pornography, and other forms of sexual entertainment. ––Ed.

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Is porn “really” that big of a deal?

Goin’ Postal… Alabama Style

Too weird to be true – nut it… er, but it is.

Click here to see the actual story in the newspaper that reported it – The Huntsvile… er, Huntsville Times.

However… a word to “the wise”: It ain’t worth it – neither death will resolve or solve anything. Tomorrow’s another day, and things will change. Just reach out and ask for help. You are loved more than you know.

Nothing is impossible with God, even help when you’re at your wit’s end.

Here is a prayer, especially for you:

Oh glorious apostle St. Jude, faithful servant and friend of Jesus, the name of the traitor who delivered thy beloved Master into the hands of His enemies has caused thee to be forgotten by many, but the Church honors and invokes thee universally as the patron of hopeless cases–of things despaired of. Pray for me who am so miserable; make use, I implore thee, of that particular privilege accorded thee of bringing visible and speedy help where help is almost despaired of. Come to my assistance in this great need, that I may receive the consolations and succor of heaven in all my necessities, tribulations and sufferings, particularly ( -here mention your request- ), and that I may bless God with thee and all the elect throughout eternity. I promise thee, O blessed St. Jude, to be ever mindful of this great favor, and I will never cease to honor thee as my special and powerful patron, and to do all in my power to encourage devotion to thee. Amen