For those who like to share

[Bob Wells]

Lot of buzz about Freedom of Speech. Have you ever written a letter to the editor to your local newspaper. I did a couple of times and now you can in many places just post online. The interesting thing is they have rules, word count, topic and such. Even Twitter has rules. Some of them you would think are common sense, but no, they have actual written rules. I would bet if you went there and looked at the rules you would say they were pretty sensible. With that said I get a huge kick from folks who are on whatever platform they are on complaining how they or someone they know are being oppressed, that their speech or thoughts or whatever is being infringed upon. The society I live in has become entitled. We believe that whatever comes from us or some other like-minded soul should not be censored, unless they don't agree with you. My society believes that if your opinion doesn't line up with my opinion you are evil and deserving of being bullied and ridiculed. This society we share believes that there is only one right and I am standing on it. I even saw a sign that says vote a certain way because, We might have our faults but the other side is pure evil. Back to where I was going with this. These platforms have rules. The groups I belong to have rules, even those who say we don't have rules. I was banned from a group that had no rules because I was a moderate, didn't lose any sleep. I was not allowed to comment on another group because I would ask questions and post rebuttals to this former politicians stuff. Doesn't make a difference. As for my rules, I have only unfriended 1 person since I have been on any platform and that was because he said he was a racist and I got NO TIME FOR THAT. I may dislike someone for a lot of reasons, but the color of their skin AIN'T EVER GOING TO BE ONE OF THEM. Like I said rules, they have them, we have them. You don't like someone telling you what time to be at work, start your own business and wait for your customer to wonder what time you will show up to do the job they are going to pay you for. Don't like the rules on your social media platforms, start your own and make sure you tell everyone you got no rules.

 

[Lake View Too]

Lot of buzz about Freedom of Speech. Have you ever written a letter to the editor to your local newspaper. I did a couple of times and now you can in many places just post online. The interesting thing is they have rules, word count, topic and such. Even Twitter has rules. Some of them you would think are common sense, but no, they have actual written rules. I would bet if you went there and looked at the rules you would say they were pretty sensible. With that said I get a huge kick from folks who are on whatever platform they are on complaining how they or someone they know are being oppressed, that their speech or thoughts or whatever is being infringed upon. The society I live in has become entitled. We believe that whatever comes from us or some other like-minded soul should not be censored, unless they don't agree with you. My society believes that if your opinion doesn't line up with my opinion you are evil and deserving of being bullied and ridiculed. This society we share believes that there is only one right and I am standing on it. I even saw a sign that says vote a certain way because, We might have our faults but the other side is pure evil. Back to where I was going with this. These platforms have rules. The groups I belong to have rules, even those who say we don't have rules. I was banned from a group that had no rules because I was a moderate, didn't lose any sleep. I was not allowed to comment on another group because I would ask questions and post rebuttals to this former politicians stuff. Doesn't make a difference. As for my rules, I have only unfriended 1 person since I have been on any platform and that was because he said he was a racist and I got NO TIME FOR THAT. I may dislike someone for a lot of reasons, but the color of their skin AIN'T EVER GOING TO BE ONE OF THEM. Like I said rules, they have them, we have them. You don't like someone telling you what time to be at work, start your own business and wait for your customer to wonder what time you will show up to do the job they are going to pay you for. Don't like the rules on your social media platforms, start your own and make sure you tell everyone you got no rules.

I like rules. I think that is how civilization became a thing.

 

[Bob Wells]

I like rules. I think that is how civilization became a thing.

Amazing the number of people who don't. I shouldn't say that, I amazed that don't think the rules should apply to them but everyone else.

 

[PoppaJ]

If you have spent your entire life lying, grifting, and flouting rules you will naturally think you are above them.

 

[mputnal]

I think that society is divided on rules and some rules do have implicit biases. When I "talk" to people on both sides of our divide they believe that power is making rules that are not fair to them. What we can't seem to agree on is power. Each side complains and protests the rules that come from power and yet we can not agree on who is making unfair rules. So here is the common sense of this. Power has divided us and power wants us to stay divided for obvious reasons so power can generally do whatever it wants. We the people are so divided that we are reacting to everything that the other side does and that creates a complete breakdown of trust in our rule makers and therefore the rules that govern us. I do not see this changing anytime soon. I am certain that our typed words are not enough. We all have to be more active in society which is another subject. Let's take racism for example. Republicans have chosen to protect the status quo at the expense of minorities. Many of us call that racism yet we might live in predominately white neighborhoods and benefit from rules that are unfair to minorities and then talk a lot about how bad those evil republicans are racist and think we are somehow better. I honestly do see the difference in how democrats pass more rules to help than hurt YET we have not eliminated inequality and racial bias with rules so maybe it will be up to society to figure out how far we are willing to go to try and eliminate all forms of racism. We must have rules that are fair to all. It is easier said than done...

 

[Bob Wells]

Cops jobs are hard. They have expectations from their bosses and the public they serve. Unfortunately perception can appear as reality. Some examples of this are the number of violations that seem to go unchecked, golf carts on road ways, illegal parking, speeding/ reckless driving. People don't seem to see a Cop when they see what appears to be a violation. Then they advertise a weekend or a time period when they are going to be out in force taking what appears to be a hard line enforcement approach. Then those same folks who complain are posting all over social media about "Speed Traps" letting their fellow motorist know where they are so they can be aware. My question is, are our LEO'S doing more or the same level of enforcement during these periods of advertising?

 

[mputnal]

Cops jobs are hard. They have expectations from their bosses and the public they serve. Unfortunately perception can appear as reality. Some examples of this are the number of violations that seem to go unchecked, golf carts on road ways, illegal parking, speeding/ reckless driving. People don't seem to see a Cop when they see what appears to be a violation. Then they advertise a weekend or a time period when they are going to be out in force taking what appears to be a hard line enforcement approach. Then those same folks who complain are posting all over social media about "Speed Traps" letting their fellow motorist know where they are so they can be aware. My question is, are our LEO'S doing more or the same level of enforcement during these periods of advertising?

I think society is driven by economics and that includes law enforcement. Hard for me to put the blame on law enforcement because it is a dangerous job with a ton of rules. Don't get me wrong we need rules but we do need those making the rules to be fair and those enforcing the rules to be fair. It may be an impossible task since society is big and extremely complex. The rules in this forum are different for some people so maybe we should strive to be better each day and realize that our rules are a reflection of who we are. Hopefully we all want to be better but that will require Unity in our endeavor to be better...

 

[Nan MacGinnis]

I am a bit off topic but as the discussion turned to law enforcement I share my thoughts.

I began my public sector career in the 1970s working for a mid-sized police department in Central FL. Since that time, while I have decades of private sector experience, I worked part-time/reserve for three other police/fire/public safety entities as well as full-time for a few county and state agencies in this and other states. I speak from only my personal experience, specifically re my affiliations with law enforcement agencies.

Money and power corrupt.

“Nothing discloses real character like the use of power,” wrote Robert Green Ingersoll, reflecting on the legacy of Abraham Lincoln. “Most people can bear adversity. But if you wish to know what a man really is, give him power.”
​

Used to be that I scoffed at those who claimed law enforcement was corrupt. One evening very late I heard a racket outside. Checking on the commotion I saw a man (allegedly breaking into cars) splayed out on the hood of my car and surrounded by no less than five officers. One officer was kneeling on the hood of my car with a gun shoved in that suspect's mouth (for allegedly breaking into cars???!!). The other officers had their guns drawn on the man as well. Alarmed, I yelled, "what are you doing, why are you shoving your gun down the guy's throat." Thankfully, the startled officer withdrew his gun from the guy's throat. He immediately looked over his shoulder and yelled back at me to mind my own "GD business" and go back inside. (BTW, the "suspect" also shouted at me, "thanks, lady, you may have just saved my life.") I did just that (went inside) but called the police department directly. I was surprised that I received the same response from the commanding officer. I no longer am surprised at the behavior of many LEOs, current and former, who seem to feel that a gun on their hip gives them rights beyond those of the rest of us.

This was a single incident but I witness this type of behavior over and over again. Take anyone who has ever felt down-trodden (can't find another job, is fat, is short, is ugly, lacks a competitive education, etc., etc., et al) and place a gun in their hands and a badge of their chests and they immediately develop swagger, a "do you know who I am/who you are dealing with?" attitude.

The standards for law enforcement officers to be certified should include some type of nationally-standardized test (criterion and construct validity-tested to ensure against disparate impact to protected classes) to determine a candidate's 1) mental health/fitness for such a job, 2) ability to handle stress and pressure AND make good decisions, and 3) uncover overt and hidden biases against other members of the HUMAN race. It shouldn't be a one-time evaluation either but repeated according to a prescribed schedule.

The officers and administrations who balk at this type of a measure perhaps know something about their colleagues that should bar them from positions of public trust.

Just exercising my Constitutionally-given right to free speech.

 

[Bob Wells]

When I started this thread, wasn't necessarily looking at starting a topic and then having back and forth. That said, most of what I am sharing are my observations about things people seem to have issues with. My expectations aren't very high that anything will change in areas I will write about. My "Feeling" won't be hurt if you disagree. This is a free share area, but it is the lounge so what else should we expect.

 

[Bob Wells]

This year Local and State Redistricting is fixing to start. As I understand it the purpose is to even out the population in the District within the County and for House and Senate seats.
This occurs after the US Census is taken. Nationally, population determines how many members of Congress each State has. In the State, I don't believe we add Representatives or Senators, we tend to move the lines to get the population numbers correct. Seems like is wasn't that long ago, Senator Gaetz was in charge of Redistricting. Here is an article about what occurred under his watch.

How does the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on gerrymandering affect Florida?

The state is slated to redraw its boundaries for Congress and the state Legislature in 2022.

www.tampabay.com

The man appointed to lead the Redistricting for the State of Florida Senate is Senator Ray Rodriguez. I hope he follows the rules of the State Constitution.


The other day I saw the appointments to the Walton County Redistricting. My name wasn't on it, . Let me share with you about Redistricting at the County from my perspective. Many people think that certain areas will be carved up so they have less representation. In Walton County we at large vote for all Commissioners. Yes a Commissioner is required to live in a certain district they represent. Unlike Escambia where you only vote for a candidate in your district. They only have 1 seat at the table. In Walton, I can influence by my vote all 5 of those seats. The Redistricting Committee could make or divide an area and diminish its voting strength by drawing lines on a on peice of paper. But we don't vote single district. There are 20 voting Precincts in Walton County, close to 60000 registered voters and in the last election 4 Precincts had over half of all votes for in Walton. I could see where folks might be concerned about your vote and representation if we were single district and then carved those votes out of those 4 Precincts. I know there are folks who will disagree with me on this and I am good with that. When that committee meets and you want to see where the lines on the map end up, just remember your vote will still count for all your elected officials for School Board, County Commissioners and the like. If you like a Candidate and want to see them elected, get out and vote, put money into their campaigns, volunteer to host a meet and greet with your candidate, hold signs.