Crazy World We Live In

[SnidelyWhiplash]

MLB moves All-Star Game over Ga. voting law

Major League Baseball is moving the 2021 All-Star Game and 2021 draft out of Atlanta in response to a new Georgia voting law that critics say unfairly limits access to the ballot box, especially for people of color.

www.espn.com

Will this be the beginning of the end of the mlb?

They need to extend GTSwarm no politics rules to everything else.

 

[Milwaukee]

This sucks. One of my favorite artists when I was in high school.

 

[LibertyTurns]

Well sadly we'll never know. Because one side is proposing new laws that wouldn't have done anything to prevent the shootings. And the other side is intransigent against doing anything at all.

How do you know current laws have failed if you don’t enforce them? Why would we enforce a new law if we won’t enforce a current law? Sounds crazy to me. Doubling down on zero is still zero.

 

[Milwaukee]

It’s actually not Bruce Campbell, but the comment about everyone just watching with their phones is spot on.

 

[Dress2Jacket]

It’s actually not Bruce Campbell, but the comment about everyone just watching with their phones is spot on.

And they shot the video in portrait format. Complete morons.

 

[armeck]

It’s actually not Bruce Campbell, but the comment about everyone just watching with their phones is spot on.

Sorry, but I'm not getting in the middle of those two guys. I'll call the police, but no way I'm trying to calm down that crazy.

 

[GT_EE78]

They need to extend GTSwarm no politics rules to everything else.

guess they could move the game to Peking

 

[Milwaukee]

It’s not all bad out here in the world. I friggin love Shaq

 

[wrmathis]

It’s not all bad out here in the world. I friggin love Shaq

hes definitely a gift to the world

 

[4shotB]

It’s not all bad out here in the world. I friggin love Shaq

I don't encounter that level of generosity but day to day most interactions I have with my fellow human beings are positive and uplifting. It's a damn shame that good news doesn't sell as well as the bad.

 

[WreckinGT]

It’s not all bad out here in the world. I friggin love Shaq

Someone I worked with years ago took his son to buy a bike at some sporting goods store in Lawrenceville. Can't remember which. Turns out Shaq was there at the same time. Shaq spent some time talking with the kid and looking at bikes with him. Then he bought him the bike he wanted. There is no telling how many times Shaq has done things like this. Really good dude.

 

[LibertyTurns]

Someone I worked with years ago took his son to buy a bike at some sporting goods store in Lawrenceville. Can't remember which. Turns out Shaq was there at the same time. Shaq spent some time talking with the kid and looking at bikes with him. Then he bought him the bike he wanted. There is no telling how many times Shaq has done things like this. Really good dude.

Maybe some on this board should start putting THEIR money & time where their mouth is? They might be surprised how their perspective on life changes. Buy a kid in need a pair of shoes to replace the ones he’s grown out of or worn out, spend some time down at the community center teaching a kid to read or do arithmetic, buy them some books yeah books, etc. There’s plenty of opportunity out there besides the media headline grabbing stuff Shaq does. I love that Shaq does this, but what if what he does caught on and a thousand or ten thousand others started helping others? On one of your next visits to the grocery store there’s probably some woman struggling to feed her family. Maybe visit the local food bank and help fill their shelves? The little things do matter.

 

[684Bee]

Maybe some on this board should start putting THEIR money & time where their mouth is? They might be surprised how their perspective on life changes. Buy a kid in need a pair of shoes to replace the ones he’s grown out of or worn out, spend some time down at the community center teaching a kid to read or do arithmetic, buy them some books yeah books, etc. There’s plenty of opportunity out there besides the media headline grabbing stuff Shaq does. I love that Shaq does this, but what if what he does caught on and a thousand or ten thousand others started helping others? On one of your next visits to the grocery store there’s probably some woman struggling to feed her family. Maybe visit the local food bank and help fill their shelves? The little things do matter.

Agree, because I’ve done just this.

To give a little insight into what has informed some of my beliefs (I’m sure some on here think some of my takes are hard core and heartless):

Because I’ve done these things many times, I’ve seen up close and personal how many don’t choose to help themselves. I’ve had conversations and heard the blaming and excuses. I’ve seen the choices that were made that led to where they were. I’ve had them show up at my house (no idea how they knew where I lived...a little scary). I’ve heard the complaining about something that was just given to them, and asking for additional.

It’s enough to make you pretty jaded and cynical, when you went in with pure heart and intentions. Does it mean I’ve given up on doing these things? No. But it does mean I go in eyes wide open and antenna up now, and it’s part of what has shaped my views on things. Not from theory or from a distance. From real life experiences up close.

 

[LongforDodd]

I have said this before but the one takeaway I have gained from teaching (in both public and private schools) is that it changed my paradigm. Prior to teaching, I was aware of all that I had accomplished and felt like it was all due to my own blood, sweat and tears. And that anyone else can do the same with proper application of those ingredients.

When I became a teacher and saw the home lives of some (bridging the entire socioeconomic spectrum btw) I realized how fortunate I was to have been dealt a good hand by God or fate or sheer randomness (I will let the reader decide). I came up in a stable, caring and supportive home life which therefore made the other things later in life much, much more achievable for me.

I am convinced if a child doesn't have this, their journey in life is going to be hard regardless of race, gender, religious affiliation, etc. Those with the "they can just pull themselves up by the bootstraps" crowd underestimate how difficult this is. While possible, I would estimate that maybe 1 child in 50 has the guts and drive to do this. remember, They have to make good choices when they are very young and stay committed to those through their childhood and teen years. I can say with certainty that I have did not have that as a boy or adolescent.

FWIW. I would say that a child's education is 80% home life and 20% the name on the building. Most of our kids are not getting the 80%. And those naive enough to think the government can fix or engineer solutions to these family issues are sorely misguided imo.

This where the democrats should focus their attention and our dollars to get more bang for the buck but....that's racist!

 

[LongforDodd]

hes definitely a gift to the world

He is just that because of the positive role models he's had in his life.

 

[4shotB]

This where the democrats should focus their attention and our dollars to get more bang for the buck but....that's racist!

I don't want to dip my toe too far into the political arena but the government (as I stated in the post you quoted) ain't the solution. In fact, it may be part of the problem. That goes for the Republicans and any other party out there.

 

[LongforDodd]

I don't want to dip my toe too far into the political arena but the government (as I stated in the post you quoted) ain't the solution. In fact, it may be part of the problem. That goes for the Republicans and any other party out there.

I don't want to either except to try to reverse some of the damage brought on by LBJ's Great Society legislation, as well-intended as that may have been. I think I was merely trying to exhort those who vote Democrat but have garnered/grifted resources from the wealthy left-leaning elitists and operate behind the smoke screen of "serving their communities" with voter suppression non-sense and the like.

BTW, I salute your passion for teaching. Our communities need more of likes of you.

 

[LibertyTurns]

@684Bee We seem to have many different experiences. Yes, I’ve had the ones whine about not getting as much as they’d hoped for or wanted. Much more fulfilling have been the ones I’ve run into months, years or even decades later. The investment paid off!

A kid destined for jail, last I saw him an E-8 in the Navy. Needed someone to man up and tell him to grow up, not be a punk, etc. Now a career man, family man, great American, highly respected leader among great leaders. There were others like him along the way but he was my first real project.

Wife mentored dozens of kids on welfare, no parents, drug families, etc. She eclipsed 100 full ride college scholarships before she retired. Sometimes they needed a loaf of bread, peanut butter and jelly or 5 lbs of spaghetti and some sauce. Nothing fancy but a little food, some used clothes our kids wouldn’t have been wearing any more and some steadfast encouragement. 12 Masters Degrees, 88 undergrads, 15-20 pending and many still to come in the pipe still but all will make it. 2 knocked up and never went to college. It can be done. Some others work for me, not big money but living honest wages and they’re productive community members.

Just today a kid that was about to give up briefed myself and the team on his department of 20. Wow, it was fantastic.

The nation needs hundreds of thousands of little wins like these but it will not happen unless we do it. The opportunity is out there. The rewards are immense. There’s many ways to contribute but the impersonal contributions just do not work. People make people successful, not a building or a pile of cash.

Keep the faith.

 

[684Bee]

@684Bee We seem to have many different experiences. Yes, I’ve had the ones whine about not getting as much as they’d hoped for or wanted. Much more fulfilling have been the ones I’ve run into months, years or even decades later. The investment paid off!

A kid destined for jail, last I saw him an E-8 in the Navy. Needed someone to man up and tell him to grow up, not be a punk, etc. Now a career man, family man, great American, highly respected leader among great leaders. There were others like him along the way but he was my first real project.

Wife mentored dozens of kids on welfare, no parents, drug families, etc. She eclipsed 100 full ride college scholarships before she retired. Sometimes they needed a loaf of bread, peanut butter and jelly or 5 lbs of spaghetti and some sauce. Nothing fancy but a little food, some used clothes our kids wouldn’t have been wearing any more and some steadfast encouragement. 12 Masters Degrees, 88 undergrads, 15-20 pending and many still to come in the pipe still but all will make it. 2 knocked up and never went to college. It can be done. Some others work for me, not big money but living honest wages and they’re productive community members.

Just today a kid that was about to give up briefed myself and the team on his department of 20. Wow, it was fantastic.

The nation needs hundreds of thousands of little wins like these but it will not happen unless we do it. The opportunity is out there. The rewards are immense. There’s many ways to contribute but the impersonal contributions just do not work. People make people successful, not a building or a pile of cash.

Keep the faith.

I agree. Like I said, not stopping from continuing to help. Just have my antenna up more now than before. Kudos to you and your wife.

 

[LibertyTurns]

I agree. Like I said, not stopping from continuing to help. Just have my antenna up more now than before. Kudos to you and your wife.

Yeah myself & wife been burned a handful of times. Learned that loaning money was usually a gift. Had a tolen wallet, a radio & CDs came up missing one day, some cash taken from my wife’s purse 2-3 times, my wife got complained about several times when she refused to look the other way during cheating, etc. Once had a young female accuse me of sexual discrimination for not rubber stamping her quals. Investigation got kinda ugly when another kid that couldn’t hack it piled on trying to get a wave, but eventually the truth prevailed. Sad, but some people are just rotten at the core & life isn’t always fair.