Carla’s post about toxic relationships is spot on. I sincerely appreciate her writing about this, since this topic is something I have been struggling with immensely, for a good while now.
No names mentioned, but seeing this post this morning makes me feel so much better, and so much less guilty.
Thank you, Carla!
Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂
Image Credit: heavy.com
Image Credit: vanityfair.com
There’s been a huge fight over the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL).
I’ve seen a bit of chatter about it on Facebook, but I wanted to address it here.
The image below is a map of the proposed pipeline, running from North Dakota to Illinois.
Here’s the facts from Energy Transfer: DAPL Pipeline Facts
Image Credit: thejournal-news.net
It’s been a mix of stop and go, for a while now.
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe filed an injunction, but a federal judge rejected it.
Then, the U.S. Army, Department of Justice, and Department of Interior announced they would stop work – temporarily – under a lake that is considered a crucial source of water for the tribe.
Several news agencies have covered this issue, but I don’t think it’s been nearly enough!
What I can’t understand is how this issue has not received national coverage, up until recently. I’m glad that news outlets are starting to give it attention, but it’s tough to swallow that nearly four whole months went by (roughly May 10th to September 3rd) between coverage of the efforts to stop this pipeline and more protests.
—
Here’s a caption from the Political Junkie News Media Facebook page from September 12th:
A temporary halt on 3% of the pipeline is not a victory. Arrest warrants issued for Amy Goodman and Jill Stein is not justice. Hiring private mercenaries to combat peaceful protestors is not protecting their 1st amendment.
It’s terrorism. Don’t let this story die. #nodapl #rezpectourwater
—
While searching for more information on Facebook, I stumbled on the US Uncut page.
I then found this link:
That headline, alone, convinces me that this story needs to be explored, investigated, and told, not ignored.
Image Credit: overpasslightbrigade.org
People Over Pipelines.
#NoDAPL
Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂
Image Credit: pinterest.com
Today, this blog post is a HUGE step for me.
For the first time, ever, I’m sharing my entire story — My entire experience from 2006 through 2010. Until now, I’ve mentioned pieces of it, here and there, on this blog. This took a lot of courage. It took me multiple drafts of an email, several days of reviewing and re-reading, feeling knots in my stomach and tears in my eyes.
I’ve wanted to do this for almost six years now, but something kept telling me to wait, to be patient, that the right venue or opportunity would come along.
Thanks to Carla and her amazing blog, she’s made it her mission to share those stories that need to be read / heard. Please check out her blog – The Melodramatic Confessions of Carla Louise. She balances tough, scorching topics – Feminism, rape culture, domestic violence, abuse, capital punishment – with awesome challenges about TV shows and music.
Carla has a disclaimer at the beginning of her post, but I’ll share a version of my own:
Disclaimer: This post contains graphic depictions of abuse, violence, sex, alcohol, and a few other difficult topics.
—
With that said, I welcome comments or questions. Please feel free to reach out to me, via commenting here, or by the information on my “Contact” page.
Thank you.
Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂
Image Credit: goodreads.com
“You can’t always keep your loved ones with you. You can’t always settle your life in one place. The world was made to change. But as long as you cherish the memories and make new ones along on the way, no matter where you are, you’ll always be at home.”
― Marieke Nijkamp, This Is Where It Ends
This is the second book from my 2016 Reading Challenge!
Back in early January, when I decided to embark on the reading challenge, I was immediately drawn toward this book. I remember reading the description on Goodreads, and then seconds later, heading for Amazon to order it.
It took me until the middle of June to finish it, but oh well!
I think my expectations were a bit high with this book. I admire what Nijkamp has attempted to accomplish here. But, considering I was wrapping up this book just days after the terrible massacre in Orlando, Florida, I felt a bit desensitized. To me, it felt like Columbine, but “updated” for 2016.
Also, this book is told from four different perspectives. I took that as a challenge when I decided to buy this book. If you remember my review of the Divergent trilogy, I have struggled with multi-perspective novels.
I’ve always had a strange fascination with crime and investigations and forensics. I’ve watched every episode of Cold Case and Forensic Files. This book took a high school shooting in a small Alabama town, and tried to put a modern spin on it. I appreciated Nijkamp’s attention to certain details, in particular, incorporating social media aspects.
But the multiple perspectives, once again, tripped me up. I really wanted to like it and make it work with my brain. However, since I wasn’t able to finish the book in quick succession, I had to backtrack a couple of times to find my place before I could forage ahead. That really bothered me.
On a more positive note, I liked the characters, and how they were all connected, in some way, to the shooter. Nijkamp was really invested in these characters and I could tell that she wanted to explore every detail possible, in the limited time frame that the book was set. Seeing the connections really made me want to finish the book, to see what the outcome was.
The ending was a bit of a letdown, and it was unsettling. But, as I was explaining these feelings to my husband, Al, he brought up a good point. The plot centers around a high school shooting, and the real-life massacre in Orlando had just happened. What more was I expecting?
I wondered that, too.
4 out of 5 stars.
Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂
Image Credit: victims2survivors.co.uk
The case of Brock Turner has lit up every aspect of social media and news/media outlets in the last eight days.
I first caught wind of the story from Facebook. I sat on the living room couch, mesmerized by the survivor’s impact statement that she gave in court. Tears came to my eyes. I felt sick the entire time.
Even before I knew Brock Turner’s name, I immediately wanted to sucker punch him.
I wanted him to experience a taste of his own medicine – How would it feel for him to be unconscious, digitally penetrated, groped, and assaulted for 20 minutes behind a dumpster?
Would he feel like he wanted to shed his body “like a jacket and leave it behind in the hospital with everything else?”
Then, on Thursday, I found this link on Facebook:
I’m a Dad of 3 Boys. I Married a Rape Victim – & I Have Something to Say to Brock Turner’s Father
I read it, and one section resonated with me immediately:
Trauma has a way of blocking the logic centers of the brain and reducing its survivors to their most primitive survival instincts. When I touch my wife, nearly 13 years after her rape, she can be triggered into an immediate fight or flight response. We never know when, or if, it will happen because Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) often has no rhyme or reason. Her body remembers what her mind can’t. Sexual desire was non-existent for years, and is just now only slowly coming back. For years I couldn’t understand why she didn’t have the same desire for me that I do for her. It isn’t that she doesn’t want to, it’s that she can’t. The trauma she experienced has caused her primitive brain to associate sex with danger.
—
That exact scenario has happened to me, with Al, more times than I wish to count. It’s been tough, having been together for nearly six years now, and married for nearly seven months.
Let me stop for a second and clarify:
I was not raped, but I nearly was in 2009 by my ex-boyfriend, John Ivey. At the time, I was able to stop him, but only by screaming at the absolute top of my lungs, proclaiming, over and over and over, “Stop. No. I’m not ready. I’m not ready. I’m not ready.”
—
Sadly, many rape survivors are overpowered by their rapists. I’m talking about men, women, and children.
Over the years, I’ve read countless articles about other survivors.
Here are a few that have stuck with me.
I’ve also re-posted the impact statement from Brock Turner’s survivor, first published by BuzzFeed on June 3rd.
If you haven’t read it, I encourage you to do so. It’s already impacted my life.
I feel grateful that my situation wasn’t worse. I was abused from late 2006 through Friday, July 17, 2010, when I finally gathered the courage to break up with John, to tell him to his face that I wasn’t happy, that I had changed into a person that I didn’t recognize, that it was over.
I felt liberated.
Sadly, there are so many in this world that don’t, can’t, feel that way.
My heart breaks for them.
I never was molested by a family member, abused before middle school, assaulted by a coach or a priest that a survivor trusted. The list is endless.
Writing this post brought back some of my memories and experiences, but I know I am strong.
I survived.
I’m able to tell my story freely.
It isn’t easy. I haven’t shared my story with everyone that I know.
My parents don’t know the entire story, the entire 3 1/2 years, although they were two of the first to recognize that I was being manipulated and taken advantage of.
However, I’m grateful for their undying support, along with Al, several friends, professors, counselors, and therapists. I’m also thankful that I was raised as a strong Christian. I say that because I relied heavily on my faith during my experiences, although I may not have realized it at the time.
I only have hazy memories of my freshman, sophomore, and junior years of college, which makes me sad. College is supposed to be one of the best times of someone’s life.
But, at the same time, I think of the survivors who have hazy memories of their entire childhood, or not have any memories at all.
I feel humbled, knowing that I was able to escape from John.
Many people have never escaped at all.
Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂
Image Credit: amazon.com
“That which does not kill us, makes us stronger.”
~Friedrich Nietzsche
This book was recommended to me by a friend, Mike H. He’s a wonderful man from my church who gives blood at our blood drives. At the latest drive in February, I realized that he was a writer for the Daily Press, one of our local newspapers. I mentioned to him that I had studied journalism in college and created this little blog of mine.
Shortly thereafter, he messaged me on Facebook and we started chatting about the blog, writing, and a few mutual friends. I told him about the review I wrote on Tornado Warning, and that I was an abuse survivor.
That’s when he recommended this book.
I bought it almost immediately.
Once it arrived, it took me at least a week to get the courage to start reading it, but once I started, I couldn’t stop.
Janine’s story haunted me. Her abuse started at a younger age, and it happened repeatedly, by multiple men, over a period of 25-plus years. Reading her descriptions of her sexual assaults, in particular, made my skin crawl.
Still, reading those passages only drove me to continue. I knew the story was primarily about her sister, Amy, but it was fascinating to see her story interwoven with Amy’s. How two sisters suffered similar abuses, yet in different ways.
One of the biggest marks that it left on me was that Amy worked for Kimberly-Clark in Knoxville, Tennessee. My aunt was slated to transfer to Knoxville while working for K-C years ago, but it didn’t happen. My heart hammered, wondering if she had ever crossed paths with Amy.
Regardless, as an abuse survivor, several things that happened to Janine and Amy resonated with me.
These are several of the signs of abuse that I didn’t recognize until years later:
This book hit me harder than Tornado Warning, which surprised me. I remember reading the end of this book while Al was asleep next to me in bed, and my eyes filled with tears as I closed the book, filled with gratitude that I found and married the man who loves me for who I am and doesn’t want to change me.
I’m glad I read this. It renewed my gratitude that I am a survivor, but also renewed my awareness that women (and men) still suffer from, and die from, abuse every single day.
This book has motivated me, finally, to write down my own story, piece by piece.
5 out of 5 stars.
Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂
Image Credit: yourliferecoverycenter.com
This was a tough one to write about. It took a long time, I’m talking a couple of months, to get these words together.
Full disclosure: I cannot speak from experience here. I have never done any type of drug. I have not been directly affected by heroin addiction, in terms of my family or my friends.
However, my heart goes out to everyone who have been affected.
The main origin for this post started with a tragedy: One of my friends lost her sister to a heroin and cocaine overdose in 2015. Through her grief, she started a blog, called An Addict’s Sister. Her words have made me laugh, and they have made me cry. I look forward to every post, and I read every word. I never met her sister, but I feel like I’ve been introduced to her through these words.
I’ve said before that writing is one of my therapies. In this case, I truly believe this is helping her with the loss of her sister, and it has helped me learn about her, her sister, and learn a little bit about how destructive heroin can be.
Then, in early February, I found this piece on CNN.com:
I read this on my lunch hour at work, and I immediately wanted to dive into researching. It appeared that this new and different approach was becoming a success for this little town called Laconia – I wanted to see what else was being done.
I got my wish five days later – One of my local TV stations had this piece on their website:
This was fascinating to me. I’m a huge fan of Forensic Files. The show has profiled several cases where hair and fingernail testing was conducted to look for the presence of arsenic, or ethylene glycol, the main ingredient in antifreeze. But, this is the first time that I have heard of fingernail testing for drugs, particularly in Virginia. The best part, as they mention in the piece, is this kind of testing is a lot cheaper. I look forward to hearing more about this down the road.
Then, at the end of February, that same station reported something exciting:
I was thrilled. So many die of overdoses. Many of them die alone.
I’m happy that my state, and a city a stone’s throw away from me, is jumping on board. This is a good step forward.
The best news – Less than three weeks days after that story aired, this happened:
Success! I’m sure that felt good. And so quickly! It’s nice to see actual good news.
However, the battle is far from over.
In my city alone, Chesapeake, 23 people died from heroin overdoses in 2014. That year, there were 132 deaths in the “seven cities” of Hampton Roads.
Personally, as happy as I am with the recent success of the VBPD, I believe in establishing programs like Laconia. I hope that a similar type of program is introduced to every police force, eventually. I realize that this kind of effort will take time, and money.
But, I think it’s worth it, don’t you?
One overdose is too many.
For more information:
Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂
Disclaimer: This post contains strong language.
Earlier this week, the Internet basically blew up because of this guy:
Image Credit: NBC News via Paul Taggart / Bloomberg via Getty Images file
The media was all over it. Outrage was almost instantaneous. Martin Shkreli has been called almost every name in the book: “Public Enemy No. 1,” “the most hated man in America,” “a spoiled brat” by none other than Donald Trump, and more. The Daily Beast blatantly called him an asshole in their main headline, which was my exact impression of this shitty scumbag and fucking bottom feeder when the news first broke.
Shkreli’s decision to raise the price of Daraprim, used to treat an infection caused by a parasite, from a sensible $13.50 per pill to over $750 per dose, was jaw-dropping, among other things.
He soon back-pedaled, but the damage was already done:
It’s bad enough when your one decision sparks worldwide outrage, but I think it’s worse when your supposed colleagues in your own industry and supporting industries turn their backs on you. However, this piece of shitty scum totally deserves it. I’m applauding those in the bio tech industry and PhRMA for standing up and saying, “Whoa, hang on a second, this is not acceptable.” Read more from The Washington Post.
With that said, however, my applause is limited and short-lived. These industries are fucking money hoarders!
In The Daily Beast article, a reporter confronted Shkreli about the low cost of producing Daraprim – Roughly one dollar per pill.
Shkreli’s response to her?
” … Shkreli claimed that the price hike was necessary for Turing Pharmaceuticals to increase revenue, and that some of the profits would be funneled into research and development costs for a Daraprim alternative …”
That?
That’s PURE FUCKING GREED.
However, as The Washington Post article said, Shkreli is certainly not the first drug company executive, or drug company, to drastically raise prices.
Shkreli’s been in the news before – When he was the CEO of Retrophin, the company acquired Thiola, a drug used to treat an incurable kidney disease, with plans to raise its price over 20 times. The Retrophin board fired Shkreli and sued him for $65 million, accusing him of misusing company funds.
Here’s a few examples of those costs:
And, as I learned from researching for this post, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) apparently can’t do a damn thing about drug prices. They have no “legal authority to investigate or control the prices charged for marketed drugs,” according to a response on the FDA’s frequently asked questions section of their website.
Reading that statement basically knocked me over, initially.
According to an article from The Atlantic, Americans were reminded this week that the U.S. is the only fucking country in the FUCKING WORLD “where drug companies set their own prices for life-saving medications.”
Cue eye roll, heavy sigh, and head-shaking.
But, wait, hold on to your hats folks, there’s actually SOME GOOD NEWS!
Before this, and now even more so because of the spotlight on and scrutiny of Shkreli, people are actually paying attention, and giving a fuck!
All right, so maybe that first set of sentences were slightly sarcastic …
For me, I’ll believe all of this when I see it.
Meaning, I’ll believe it when Congress takes action.
Right now, the only thing that all of this proves to me is Big Pharma is king, and no one can reach his throne to take away his crown.
Image Credit: theproject333.com
As some of you may know, I love my friend Megan’s blog, Freckled Italian.
She has a series called “What I Wore” that I love. Her style is amazing!
Back in July, she published an awesome post! Check it out: What I Wore 51: Restyling Old Clothes
In this post, Megan talked about the concept of a “capsule wardrobe.”
I’ve been curious about this for a while. So, I Googled it. So many links, and photos!
All of these links were super interesting, but they center around one concept:
Less is definitely more.
Right now, I struggle immensely with the sheer amount of clothes and shoes that I have. Like Megan has expressed in her posts and comments, I do like getting rid of things to reduce clutter, but I always find myself debating whether or not I will ever use that particular item ever again. It’s tough!
Thanks to Megan, I bought a book titled The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. I’m so glad I bought this book at this point in my life. I’m starting to read it now, and as I read, I will be applying it to getting ready to combine my life with Al’s, and then when we combine our lives when we marry, and then apply it again when we get our own house!
Watch for a book review on that one!
Anyway, back to this capsule wardrobe concept.
I like the idea of setting a number of items that you have. It forces you to look really hard at what you have, and make some hard decisions.
Thinking of my closet right now, it’s organized, but it feels like it’s busting at the seams, particularly with shoes!
On top of my closet, I have NINE dresser drawers that are full, containing everything from T-shirts to jeans to workout clothes, and everything in between.
On top of all that, I have a huge 66-quart storage bin in my parents’ storeroom that has most of my fall/winter clothes!
Whew! I’m exhausted already!
As I read through The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, I am going to evaluate every piece of clothing and every pair of shoes that I own. I am also going to do the same thing with jewelry.
I have a bunch of bags and boxes ready to donate to various local charities, with a particular focus on Blankets For The Homeless, and I hope this journey will only add to that. I want to help as many people as possible.
Everything else that doesn’t directly benefit the local homeless, that’s all going to Goodwill.
Look for a follow-up post soon!
I look forward to this journey – I feel lighter just thinking about it.
Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂
Disclaimer: This post contains strong language.
Thanks to my friends Justin and Steph, I watched this video earlier this week:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Rgfbs22Ssk
After watching it, I shared it on Facebook. My tagline with the post read:
“Take eight minutes out of your day and watch this. It’s almost embarrassing that the British get this and know it better.”
“The Last Leg”
Steph, who is British, was the one who originally posted the video. Her tagline was:
“To my American friends … surely this makes sense???”
—
The show, called “The Last Leg,” airs every Friday live. They have a popular YouTube channel as well.
According to Steph, the show started a few years ago, focusing on the Paralympics. Adam Hill, the guy ranting, is an Australian comedian with one leg. Alex Brooker, sitting on the right side of the sofa, also has a missing leg. Josh Widdicombe is another comedian, who happens to hail from an area close to where Steph is from.
She loves the show and highly recommends it. They also do other topics. Example – They mock ISIS in a weekly feature called the “Ghadi Spot.” They always mention someone who’s been a dick. They also did a bit with Greece on their economy through Jeremy Kyle, sort of like Jerry Springer, which Steph thought was “brilliant.”
She posted links to the Greece situation sketch, and another titled “Following Donald Trump With A Tuba.”
Key Points
Watching the “American Gun Control Rant,” several key points stuck out to me:
The entire video was a good laugh. They are a funny group, for sure. However, they also gave me a healthy dose of reality.
Comments
On Steph’s post, Justin wrote, almost immediately:
“When our recent President got elected, every fucking paranoid asshole got scared he would take their guns and gun sales shot through the roof, no pun intended. America is a paranoid nation and our major news media only makes it worse, specifically Fox News. This makes total sense Steph. People are always scared of a bad man with a gun coming to get them and that the way to stop them is with a gun. Yeah except a gunman won’t be all ‘I’m going to come here at this time and kill people. You have 10 seconds to prep for it.’ He just will show unexpectedly and kill people. Sure people carrying can kill him back but the fact is I don’t want my Saturday at the mall ruined by some nut who decided to shoot the place up. Even if he fired off 1 bullet and then got killed, it still makes it a terrifying experience that could have been avoided. I say keep the guns for the military and law enforcement. Civilians shouldn’t have them, or at least they can with strict ass laws but I’m doubtful of that. What is it like in Britain over there? I heard your country really cracked down on them. Now yes crime will always find a way, but laws can make it a bit easier to sleep at night without worrying of a gunshot in the dark. And about the TV reporters who got shot, there are conspiracy people already saying it’s a hoax to de-arm America. I am not shitting you.”
—
To me, Justin hit the nail on the head. We are paranoid, and the media just stirs the pot. I majored in Communication Studies with a concentration in Mass Media in college. I’m glad I did, because I am far more suspicious of any media now. To quote Professor Halliday, I always have my bullshit meter out and aimed.
Britain vs. The U.S.
According to Steph, apparently only one specific section of the police carry arms. In general, though, “coppers” don’t carry guns, but they do have tasers, although that issue was debated heavily. Gun crimes do happen in Britain, just not nearly as often. It’s also a crime to “use/carry imitation guns.” Apparently, in Britain, the biggest issue is knife crimes.
Steph wrote:
” … Like you Justin I think it should be the right for military or police to carry weapons. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be a teacher in the US having to lock down because some nutter has decided to go on a killing spree.”
Steph’s reply made me think of this: Teacher credited with calming West Virginia teen hostage taker
Treating Guns Like Cars
I also jumped in, writing:
“This was amazing, Steph. Thanks for sharing with Justin, who shared it with me. I have shot several types of guns in the past, and I have learned about gun safety and how to handle a weapon properly. I agree with Justin – Guns belong with the military and law enforcement. If you want a gun, you should have to go through a process like you would to drive a car. I saw that comparison online today. So many people stand behind ‘the right to bear arms.’ I’m all for patriotism, but I’m definitely not okay with the amount of violence that guns are used for. I live the Hampton Roads area, and it makes me sick to see a new shooting on the news almost every single night.”
This is the comparison I was referencing:
Image Credit: http://www.pinterest.com
I thought this idea was brilliant.
I personally don’t think that this will ever happen in the U.S., due to the National Rifle Association and people standing by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution …
HOWEVER, it’s certainly nice to think about.
Imagine a world …
Self-Defense
The comments briefly shifted to self-defense with a comment that Steph made. I brought up the Trayvon Martin case that came out of Florida in 2012.
But, that’s a whole other conversation, with “stand your ground” laws, and self-defense in general.
Desensitized
Steph wrote:
“Do you think your country is becoming desensitised (sic) with the regularity of shootings? It’s awful and a wonder that there has been no stop to it. I would feel shit scared to fall asleep at night. Could start cycle of am scared so have gun to protect myself from someone with a gun?
—
Justin and I both agreed, immediately.
—
I wrote:
“Oh absolutely. I fully believe we are desensitized. As they said in the post we have had so many mass shootings since Columbine in 1999. I know people who have guns for protection. And I’ve heard of cases where people have guns for “protection,” and then either they get killed or someone in their family gets killed because one of their young children gets a hold of and it’s loaded.”
—
Steph replied:
“Sheer madness!”
—
Justin wrote:
“YES!!! We totally are desensitized with it. You live your whole life in a nation that shoots people every day and you will start to see it, sadly, as a part of every day life. I hear you on the knife crimes. I have a friend who was in Britain and was mugged by a guy with one. Scary thought. The case about the Uzi was something I remember. There was no fucking reason that girl should have been using it or trying to fire it. That gun kicks like a horse and without a good tight grip it would have gone everywhere. Sadly she didn’t have that and now that man is dead. I love this video that you shared Steph, just a bit disappointed as well, that people from other countries look at us and go ‘Wow you guys really need to get your shit together.'”
The Uzi case we referenced: Child firing Uzi at Arizona shooting range accidentally kills instructor
Celebrating Zero Deaths
Justin also recalled the day that New York City celebrated no violent crime for 24 hours.
It was Monday, November 26, 2012.
Ironically, the only credible source that I could find with a link to this story was the BBC …
Either way, that article also referenced a graph of global murder rates (per 100,000). The U.S., based on a 2011 study, ranked 8th out of 11 measured global areas. New York was slightly higher than the overall U.S. murder rate. However, at the time of the study, Caracas, Guatemala City, San Salvador, Port-au-Prince, Bogotá, and Sao Paulo were all higher than New York and the U.S. Beneath the U.S. were the cities of Moscow, Paris, and London.
Mental Illness
Then Will chimed in, writing:
” … The main problem that needs to be looked at is mental illness. That’s the root of the problem. Sure, guns end up in the wrong hands of people. Maybe it is too easy. And I think Justin already pointed out that even with gun control, bad people can still get guns. Or use a knife. Or use a bomb. But that’s just it. Gun control is not going to eliminate guns from bad people’s hands. Only law-abiding citizens are going to abide by the law! You don’t take care of a wart by picking at it. You get to the root of the problem. I’m not saying that’s an easy solution but it’s something our govt (sic) needs to address. Unfortunately we stand to make more money on pharmaceuticals. And of course, Hitler, Stalin, Mao forced people to turn over their guns in our past. Millions upon millions killed. Not saying that’s going to happen again but as they say, if you don’t know your history you’re doomed to repeat it.
And I understand liberals hate Fox news, and I’m not saying they’re perfect (I don’t even bother with the news on tv) but let’s not pretend MSNBC, CNN, etc aren’t just as bad if not worse. And though I was hoping to find credible numbers to back this up Fox News has had better ratings than MSNBC, CNN, etc. You can dice that any way you want. Personally they’re all bad as the other.”
—
Justin replied:
” … As far as mental illness is concerned, yeah that’s a huge issue too. The biggest one to date. Mentally insane people are dangerous enough, when they get a hold of dangerous things it makes things worse. But people in this country are way too inclined to throw them in jail or shoot them instead of addressing their illness and getting them the help they deserve. It’s an underfunded thing, and it needs to change.”
Recap – My Thoughts, Overall
Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂
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