Republican Candidate for Governor attacked

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Republican Candidate for Governor attacked

Postby Kurt » Fri Jul 22, 2022 3:12 pm

I think we are at a point in the USA where we should be obliged to condemn all political violence, especially against candidates, campaign workers and election workers.

So that sucks.

A big deal is being made about how New York State released the attacker right away, but a Veterans group was at the rally where the attack happened and the attacker is an Iraq war vet so they pledged to help him (which is good) and that was why he was deemed to not be a danger.

Personally I think the time to crack down on political violence towards Candidates and elections is now, and he should have been detained until trial. It sounds like the dude has some substance abuse issues and mental health problems, so being kept from the public and candidates would not mean jail.
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Re: Republican Candidate for Governor attacked

Postby Tarkan » Tue Jul 26, 2022 1:44 pm

Looks like the attacker was picked up on Federal charges since the GOP guy is a sitting Congressman and it's like, totally illegal to try and stab sitting Congressman for some reason.

The no cash bail and release on own recognizance for attempted murder in NYC is a real headscratcher though.
I'd whore myself out just one more time if I knew who to screw to get out of this grind.
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Re: Republican Candidate for Governor attacked

Postby Kurt » Tue Jul 26, 2022 1:55 pm

Tarkan wrote:Looks like the attacker was picked up on Federal charges since the GOP guy is a sitting Congressman and it's like, totally illegal to try and stab sitting Congressman for some reason.

The no cash bail and release on own recognizance for attempted murder in NYC is a real headscratcher though.


The Veterans group that was at that rally got him lawyered up and requested the charges be reduced. But yah, the Feds stepped in as they should have.

Poor dude was a mess though. Wife died 10 years ago and apparently he spent 10 years slipping away from reality and hitting the booze hard. Hoping he is locked up in a mental health facility but he's gotta be locked up somewhere.
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Re: Republican Candidate for Governor attacked

Postby Tarkan » Wed Jul 27, 2022 3:23 pm

Yeah, the closing of the loony bins under Reagan was one of those decisions that looks increasingly bad in hindsight.

A lot of our homeless population are mentally ill. Yeah, they are drug addicts, but a lot of them are addicts because they are self-medicating undiagnosed and untreated serious mental illness. Institutionalization would probably be better for them rather than simply tossing them out on the streets to suffer and die. This is a subject where I'm arguably a bleeding heart.
I'd whore myself out just one more time if I knew who to screw to get out of this grind.
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Re: Republican Candidate for Governor attacked

Postby Kurt » Wed Jul 27, 2022 6:31 pm

Tarkan wrote:Yeah, the closing of the loony bins under Reagan was one of those decisions that looks increasingly bad in hindsight.

A lot of our homeless population are mentally ill. Yeah, they are drug addicts, but a lot of them are addicts because they are self-medicating undiagnosed and untreated serious mental illness. Institutionalization would probably be better for them rather than simply tossing them out on the streets to suffer and die. This is a subject where I'm arguably a bleeding heart.


And that was adopted from Foucault, who said, without any medical training at all, that the mentally ill were just expressing themselves and needed to be free and society needed to accept them.

Which is fine but it completely forgot the original concept of Asylum being a place where people were protected from others and themselves and the rest of society was protected from them.

In the early 90s I was involved in 80s mandated de-institutionalization and I would say about 90% of the them were just locked up because that was what was advised back in the 40's, 50s, 60s and 70s. Some were really cool people too...but the 10% that shouldn't have been....man, that was rough.

I worked with one guy who was institutionalized for rape. Voice told him to rape. He'd be driven mad by them unless he raped, so he was locked up and medicated and quite content because the meds toned down the voices and his Depo toned down his hormones. Before I met him he had done so well outside the institution that he got a job, got an apartment and got a social worker visit once per week. Then he lost his job, lost his apartment and went off his meds. Minneapolis PD found him screaming on the street and did what any shitty PD would do and took him to the bus station and sent him to Madison Wisconsin. I met him after he called the Police on himself and told them he was gonna rape someone.
He shouldn't have been let out. He did not want to be let out, no one should ever want him let out, but he was let out anyway.

When the fruitcake left combines with the greedy right we get the homeless problem we have today.
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Re: Republican Candidate for Governor attacked

Postby seektravelinfo » Thu Jul 28, 2022 1:53 pm

I agree with the both of you. That people live on the streets is inhumane, to them and to the general public surrounding them.

A couple weeks ago I secured a fantastic loft apartment adjacent to downtown in a textile factory building that had been renovated 20 years ago to a living space, a beautiful solid building. The 1st floor apartments are reserved for artists at a rent rate of $725, which has remained constant over the years, which I networked for and was offered, despite the waiting list.

My daughter works down the street two blocks away and she threw a fit. Said it’s not safe. Said it’s gross. The pandemic brought closings of restaurants and assorted businesses in the area, as so many people work remotely now. It’s homeless central in that neighborhood. Adjacent to the apartment building are two homeless shelters and those folks just wander throughout the day, shitting on the sidewalk and harassing any “civilian” walking around. The 3rd District police station is right behind the building, but they’re still suffering from the blue flu so they’re all “meh”, so no help there.

Reluctantly I decided against the move. The apartment at street level would have provided a diorama of my daily life to the homeless unless I kept the blinds drawn 24/7. Not how I want to live.
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