[jlisenbe]

WG. To answer what?

you have a three hundred year head start on us, that is all that distinguishes us.

As is oftentimes the case, you begin making a pretty good point, and then get over-hyped and go way too far. Just in the area of natural resources, you cannot compare the two countries.

You forget we gave you a base when you needed one after getting your arses kicked being the big dog.

If you are referring to the second world war, your memory is appallingly selective. You'd be speaking Japanese today if not for us.

[talaniman]

reality is big dog; you need us little dogs and just maybe we keep you centred, and not too up yourselves with this big dog nonsense, you have a three hundred year head start on us, that is all that distinguishes us. You forget we gave you a base when you needed one after getting your arses kicked being the big dog. just like you we know loss

Common interest often forms coalitions. A pack if you will, in which every member benefits for survival and within that pack there is always a dominant force. That's not a bad thing but you seem sensitive to the analogy. Is that why you always bark at the big dog? Why are you surprised that the big dog would bark back?

[jlisenbe]

you have a three hundred year head start on us, that is all that distinguishes us.

I'll just add that it is an interesting point to consider. Since 1950, our population has grown by more than 150 million. Australia's has grown by 17 million. What accounts for the difference? Seriously.

[Wondergirl]

So strong and do-able that you cannot even put them in text form? Strange.

I had said:
1. Look at the person inside, not their outside.
2. Seize opportunities to show respect, empathy, love, plus find ways to lift up, to reach out to another.

One example: AOC, a NY Representative and not a Texas resident, went down to Texas and followed the above to the letter.
What NOT to do: Ted Cruz, a Texas Senator, ran to warmer climes with his tail between his legs and no empathy for and reaching out at all to his own constituents.

[jlisenbe]

Yes, you've said that, and we all agree with it. The question was what role the government should play in this. In other words, would you propose any new legal initiatives?

I would agree with you that TC made a fool of himself. AOC is purely a political creature.

[tomder55]

AOC is going after the Schmuckster . Her play in Texas was similar to her play on the border in the white dress. It's the pols who make sure the cameras are rolling when they serve a holiday dinner at a shelter on a holiday . Gestures .

[jlisenbe]

AOC basically say, "I'll support a ridiculous, impossible Green New Deal which is DOA, but then go to Texas (at taxpayer expense) to make a show of supporting people in order to appear reasonable and caring.

[paraclete]

WG. To answer what?

As is oftentimes the case, you begin making a pretty good point, and then get over-hyped and go way too far. Just in the area of natural resources, you cannot compare the two countries.

I don't know that that is necessarily correct, we have abundant reserves of coal, uranium, bauxite, iron, rare earths, vast agricultural industry, but you do have more water and oil

If you are referring to the second world war, your memory is appallingly selective. You'd be speaking Japanese today if not for us.

Australia was a bridge too far for the Japanese. We stopped them in New Guinea. You stopped them on Bougainville. The Japanese sought to isolate Australia, not conquer it, still they did a great deal with what today would be considered small forces. No interest in us really, we didn't possess oil fields. It is your memory, like most of your countrymen, that is appallingly selective. I put that down to your education system

[Wondergirl]

The question was what role the government should play in this. In other words, would you propose any new legal initiatives?

I would agree with you that TC made a fool of himself. AOC is purely a political creature.

The government DID play a role. Its representatives were AOC et al. and Ted Cruz.

The government can make laws and initiate procedures that:
1. Look at the person inside, not their outside.
2. Seize opportunities to show respect, empathy, love, plus find ways to lift up, to reach out to another.

E.g., retrain police departments, improve teacher education, and put together better, more caring guidelines for nursing homes.

[jlisenbe]

The government can make laws and initiate procedures that:
1. Look at the person inside, not their outside.
2. Seize opportunities to show respect, empathy, love, plus find ways to lift up, to reach out to another.

But that's what I'm asking you. What laws are you proposing? How will they be enforced? What will be the penalties for non-obedience?

E.g., retrain police departments, improve teacher education, and put together better, more caring guidelines for nursing homes.

You are putting out generalities. That's fine, but I'm trying to get you to be specific. What, for instance, should be changed in teacher education, and how do you know what is presently being taught in those programs?

[paraclete]

I'll just add that it is an interesting point to consider. Since 1950, our population has grown by more than 150 million. Australia's has grown by 17 million. What accounts for the difference? Seriously.

We started from a smaller base around 10 million, however Aussie population growth rates exceed those of the US. US population growth is around 0.6% Australian is around 1.0%. long term trend is we are both declining

[Wondergirl]

But that's what I'm asking you. What laws are you proposing? How will they be enforced? What will be the penalties for non-obedience?

Will this manuscript be graded? Will I attain a degree? Will it be published?

You are putting out generalities. That's fine, but I'm trying to get you to be specific.

Why? So you can shoot me down like you are doing already? Why not make this a discussion instead of hanging me by my thumbs? Certainly you have specifics now that I have laid out the generalities:

1. retrain police departments
2. improve teacher education
3. put together better, more caring guidelines for nursing homes.

Please don't be like Dale Ballard, Meemaw's boyfriend on "Young Sheldon"!

[jlisenbe]

Why? So you can shoot me down like you are doing already? Why not make this a discussion instead of hanging me by my thumbs? Certainly you have specifics now that I have laid out the generalities:

1. retrain police departments
2. improve teacher education
3. put together better, more caring guidelines for nursing homes.

Please don't be like Dale Ballard, Meemaw's boyfriend on "Young Sheldon"!

Never mind.

[Wondergirl]

Never mind.

Yup, that's what I figured!

P.S. Here's another one:
4. prison reform

[jlisenbe]

There's no point in it. It'll just turn out the same way it always does. "Certainly you have specifics now that I have laid out the generalities." That pretty much says it all. "I don't know, so maybe you can come in and supply the specifics for me." Why not simply say you haven't really thought it through and don't know what the specifics would be? At least that would be an straight-forward reply. And what will you say about prison reform? "All the guards and prisoners should be nice to each other?"

As they say, the devil is in the details.

[Wondergirl]

As they say, the devil is in the details.

So you don't want to discuss this? Here's my suggestion for police:

1. retrain police departments - to think beyond using force and guns to solve a problem. Add well-trained and experienced mental health workers who would accompany police on calls, especially those calls about a teen walking in the plowed street instead of on the snow-covered sidewalk or a woman undressing in an alley or a white woman, walking her illegally unleashed dog, complaining about a bird-watching Black man who asked her to leash her dog.

[jlisenbe]

1. retrain police departments - to think beyond using force and guns to solve a problem. Add well-trained and experienced mental health workers who would accompany police on calls, especially those calls about a teen walking in the plowed street instead of on the snow-covered sidewalk or a woman undressing in an alley or a white woman, walking her illegally unleashed dog, complaining about a bird-watching Black man who asked her to leash her dog.

How about the six thousand calls a year where a black person has been shot and killed by another black person? Why is it you never mention those? Do you just not care at all?

I think that when you have gotten into a police car and gone on some of these calls yourself, then you'll be able to speak more realistically. And it evidently completely escaped your notice that the bird watching person was not arrested. but the dog walker was charged with a crime. So how better would you have handled that? All of it happened after the man said to her, “Look, if you’re going to do what you want, I’m going to do what I want, but you’re not going to like it.” Sure could sound like a threat, couldn't it? It ended up being a tempest in a teapot.

You missed this about the teen walking in the street.

"Plano police responded to a welfare call shortly before 11 p.m. on Feb. 16. A caller reported that a Black man wearing a short-sleeve shirt and shorts was walking down Hedgcoxe Road and was stumbling. Officers found the man, later identified as Rodney Reese, who was wearing a short-sleeve shirt and long pants. Temperatures were in the teens, and there was snow and ice on the road.

Officers were concerned for the man’s welfare and the possibility that could have been in a mental crisis, delusional or impaired, according to a post on the Plano Police Department Facebook page.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime...et/ar-BB1dUoO1

See what I mean about those pesky details???

What would you think about a return to two-parent families where there is a dad present who more effectively controls the boys of the household? You NEVER mention that, but it's the only real solution.

[Wondergirl]

You NEVER mention that, but it's the only real solution.

How? With whippings? I raised two very well-behaved sons who became a blessing to society and never whipped or spanked either of them.

How about the six thousand calls a year where a black person has been shot and killed by another black person? Why is it you never mention those? Do you just not care at all?

You had ducked out of the discussion, so I figured, why bother. And yes, I have discussion input about that.

[jlisenbe]

How? With whippings? I raised two very well-behaved sons who became a blessing to society and never whipped or spanked either of them.

Which household was that in, the "modest income" one, or the six figure income one? You have claimed both. And I didn't mention spankings. I mentioned dads.

It never changes with you. There can be no discussion when you are so afraid to engage with serious questions. "I have discussion input about that." Fine. Put it down. But I don't think you will.

[Wondergirl]

Which household was that in, the "modest income" one, or the six figure income one? You have claimed both. And I didn't mention spankings. I mentioned dads.

The larger income, two inheritances, has come about since my mother's death on January 15, 2018, and our 42 y/o son's death on May 4, 2018. From 1967 to 2018, our income was modest.

Whippings have been mentioned earlier in this thread as a means to make children obey. What do dads have to do with making children behave?

It never changes with you. There can be no discussion when you are so afraid to engage with serious questions. "I have discussion input about that." Fine. Put it down. But I don't think you will.

I did and hoped you would add to the discussion in a positive way.

P.S. Instead of taking the boy home, the Plano police put that teen in jail. (Walking on an icy street beats slogging through a foot of heavy snow on the sidewalk.) The last sentence says it all ("race was the issue") --
https://www.star-telegram.com/news/l...249422695.html