Newenglanddeac
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 1, 2011
- Messages
- 13,135
- Reaction score
- 390
I grew up in rural, blue-collar NC, and still have many relatives who live there, so I see and hear most of this every time I go back to see them. Whenever I do, you can visibly see how sharp the economic decline there has been over the last 20 years or so - lots of really old cars, the numbers of people at grocery stores using food stamps, the empty and decaying homes in the boonies (not just old farmhouses, but modern brick homes, sometimes covered in graffiti), the once-cleared farmland steadily returning to wilderness, the mostly dead downtown business district with empty storefronts or former stores now being used as office space, etc. One demographic change has been an influx of some Hispanics, which the local natives definitely notice, along with an influx of "outside" whites, mostly wealthier retirees from places in the Northeast or Midwest, or Florida, who have bought old farms and homes via the internet. That has created some resentment, mainly because they have money. I understand their views and can grasp their resentment at the changes that have reduced my hometown to this, but I have lost much sympathy for them otherwise. They complain about blacks and other minorities who "live off the system", yet I see plenty of them on welfare, and the truth is many of them wouldn't survive, or would be in far worse shape, without that government assistance, or without older relatives who retired with money giving them handouts (family welfare) to help them. They aren't really opposed to welfare and food stamps - they just think it belongs to people like them, and not to minorities or immigrants or people "different" from them. I've heard them talk up the GOP's mantra of pulling yourself up by your bootstraps and relying on yourself instead of the government, yet many of them refuse to help themselves, such as getting retraining for new jobs. I remember growing up listening to people there talk about all the "drugs and gangs" in big cities (and by big city they meant Charlotte and Greensboro as well as NYC, Chicago, etc.), yet the county has serious problems with opioid abuse and meth labs - people with drug arrest records are not uncommon. Basically, those who left, like me, are doing much better than those who remained.
Sounds like Highlands and I grew up in the same neck of the woods.
The entertaining thing about my family up in the Highlands is that their entire lives have been heavily subsidized by the taxpayer. My mom, dad, uncle and aunt all taught 30 years in the public schools and are now pulling in that pension money and that government healthcare. They all grew tobacco on the side which was a federal government price-supported crop, and they quit growing it when the subsidy went away. They had mortgages on their farms that I am positive were supported by Department of Agriculture programs. Every year they got new and improved tobacco seeds engineered at NC State. Medicaid took care of my grandmother, in her home, for about the last 10 years of her life. But now they are all retired and watch too much Fox News and have started grumbling about big government this and immigrants that and especially how they don't like that Cam Newton feller.
Moore’s lawyers and associates holding a press conference denying everything...it’s all a conspiracy and the irresponsible media are complicit. There are just so many holes in the allegations. And allegations are just words, not indictments or criminal charges.
Basically, the accusers are lying. Part of a political conspiracy.
The future of the country is riding on this election. Don’t let the outside media trick you, Alabamians. Bible quote even.
I think if Moore should have just come out and said, "I was an idiot in my 30s. I hit on young girls and I continue to live with the shame of what I did. I applaud the courage of those women and I hope they will encourage other women to come forward. I also hope my sins will help prevent other men from making the same mistakes." He could have taken some proactive step to advocate for sexual abuse victims as well. He would have been forgiven by his party and most others and allowed to move on.
I feel like everybody should re listen to the entirety of the S-Town podcast in preparation for the Dec 12th special election.
I think the two sides should dump $25M+ in ads on AL radio and TV. Think of how much fun you'd have.
Trump saying Moore denies (totally) everything. And we don’t want the soft on crime democrat in the senate.
And what about Franken and Conyers.
But Trump says Moore denies everything. And not just denies but TOTALLY denies everything. Seriously.
Just like Putin.
I mean, what's Trump to do? Not take those guys at their word?
Basically an endorsement of Moore by Trump.