Tigeraholic1 Posted October 21 Author Posted October 21 1 hour ago, chasfh said: While my wife and I was driving Route 66, we stopped in Oklahoma City, and while driving around, I saw the same things I've seen in a lot of smaller cities, especially out west: unhoused people sprawled on many of the streets, setting up camp right on sidewalks in the open; tons of garbage strewn about all over the streets and sidewalks; and, of course, nobody walking around the streets after dark anywhere, not even downtown. Nothing like Chicago at all. While we were there, we went to the Jim Thorpe museum, which is connected to the AAA baseball stadium. The guy on staff was a white man, maybe 70-ish. We came in making nice small talk telling him how we found ourselves in OKC, and he asked, "where you folks from"? My wife answered, "Chicago". And he replied, "Oh, sorry, ha ha ha." I knew where he was coming from. I didn't answer him in the moment, but after checking out the museum and the ballpark for maybe 15 minutes, as we were leaving, he was near the door on the way out, and I said to him, "Oh, by the way? Chicago? Is a way, way better city than Oklahoma City." And he replied, "Well, I can't imagine." And I said, "Well, you should come visit. You'll see what I mean. You'd love it." And he had nothing more to say than, "Well, heh heh heh." And it was in that moment the thought occurred to me: probably a big reason so many red hats are so freaked out about Chicago is that they believe it's just a bigger and far worse version of their own cities, or at least the close cities they get their TV from. So many of those cities have been allowed to simply go to seed. (Perhaps in part because their Republican state legislatures starve them of state money they could use to help clean things up? That's what Illinois' R governors and legislators have been trying to do to Chicago ever since I've been here.) So this guy from the museum sees what's happening in his town, Oklahoma City, watches Fox and Newsmax and OAN talk about Chicago—and, most importantly, hears "his" president talk about Chicago—and can't conceive of the idea that it could not possibly be anything but a filthier and infinitely more dangerous version of Oklahoma City. He assumes Chicago is basically the equivalent of Gaza right now. Of course, if you look at the violent crime stats for 2024—courtesy of the Trump FBI—for every decent-sized town along Route 66, you can see that Chicago ranks pretty low in overall violent crime: TBF, it's not the lowest crime rate along the route. Kingman, Normal, Joliet, Rolla, Flagstaff, all lower. But to hear the red hats talk about it, it would be impossible that Chicago would not be the highest violent crime rate in the country. By the way, you can download your own copy of the FBI 2024 crime data right here. I love Chicago. My daughter just bought a house in Oak Park. Like any city/burbs there are bad areas. Never been to OKC just through the airport a ton of times. Quote
LaceyLou Posted October 21 Posted October 21 1 hour ago, oblong said: I've said this before here but it's like the red hats get off on the homeless. When I come back from vacation and I have cousins asking where we went, if it was a big city, like San Diego, their first question "Was there a lot of homeless people there?" The first time we went my fox news watching MIL said to us, "Just be careful" and when we asked why she said "Well it's close to the border". Chas, you are exactly right. Years ago, my father taught at Butler in Indianapolis. A colleague of his was in his office, looked out the window, and pointed at a nearby neighborhood as he advised my father never to walk there alone at night. My father pointed at one of the houses and said 'that's where I live.' This would have been in the 1960s, and was one of the few integrated neighborhoods in the area. It did get loud during the Indy 500, and people would park in people's yards during the basketball championships, but other than that my parents loved it there. 2 Quote
Screwball Posted October 21 Posted October 21 3 hours ago, LaceyLou said: Years ago, my father taught at Butler in Indianapolis. A colleague of his was in his office, looked out the window, and pointed at a nearby neighborhood as he advised my father never to walk there alone at night. My father pointed at one of the houses and said 'that's where I live.' This would have been in the 1960s, and was one of the few integrated neighborhoods in the area. It did get loud during the Indy 500, and people would park in people's yards during the basketball championships, but other than that my parents loved it there. Everyone should experience the Indy 500. Doesn't matter if you are a race fan. 1 Quote
guy incognito Posted October 21 Posted October 21 8 hours ago, oblong said: The whole "Trad Wives" thing among the evangelical right is just another form of what they probably bitch about in their perceptions of the Muslim world. I've felt for a long time that conservative Christian pearl-clutching over imminent "sharia law" was one of those accusation-as-confession things. Like a Coca-Cola stockholder fulminating against the health risks of Pepsi. 3 Quote
Motown Bombers Posted October 21 Posted October 21 5 hours ago, oblong said: I've said this before here but it's like the red hats get off on the homeless. When I come back from vacation and I have cousins asking where we went, if it was a big city, like San Diego, their first question "Was there a lot of homeless people there?" The first time we went my fox news watching MIL said to us, "Just be careful" and when we asked why she said "Well it's close to the border". Chas, you are exactly right. San Diego is the safest big city in the country. In many categories, its crime is below the national average. It’s possibly safer than whatever suburb they live in. Quote
ewsieg Posted October 22 Posted October 22 1 hour ago, Motown Bombers said: San Diego is the safest big city in the country. In many categories, its crime is below the national average. It’s possibly safer than whatever suburb they live in. Should I ever be homeless, I would choose to be homeless in San Diego. To be fair to Oblongs cousins, the homeless issue is crazy in some cities, my BIL (progressive dem) even feels homelessness is out of hand in Seattle (where he lives) and Portland (where he visits regularly due to his wife's family. My cousin in Portland (progressive dem by midwest standards, probably just a dem there) won't ride his bike to work anymore because so many encampments have pushed bikers out of bike lanes and into the street and during rush hour he says he doesn't feel safe with traffic. He biked to work since he's moved out there (15 years ago or so) until last year. Note: neither have said they want to leave their locations and love living there. It's just one side note they aren't happy about. 1 Quote
romad1 Posted October 22 Posted October 22 Trump demanding a payment of $200M dollars from the DOJ he runs like his personal law firm is bad government. Quote
pfife Posted October 22 Posted October 22 The script writes itself https://thehill.com/newsletters/health-care/5566550-vulnerable-republicans-call-for-aca-enhanced-subsidy-extension/amp/ Vulnerable Republicans call for ACA enhanced subsidy extension Quote
pfife Posted October 22 Posted October 22 The GOP Republican Maga federal cover up of pedos continues apace. Congrats LOLIC and Archief https://www.semafor.com/article/10/22/2025/house-republicans-rail-against-epstein-files-vote House Republicans rail against Epstein files vote Quote
pfife Posted October 22 Posted October 22 The narrative writes itself.... 97.1 the ticket is reporting on people not being able to afford healthcare. Quote
Mr.TaterSalad Posted October 22 Posted October 22 (edited) 21 minutes ago, pfife said: The narrative writes itself.... 97.1 the ticket is reporting on people not being able to afford healthcare. I know Costa's wife in real life and they are both on the left side of the fence if you get what I mean. Karsch is also a big Dem. Edit: I heard what they said on the morning show on 97.1 healthcare just now and it was during Heather's news updates. It doesn't sound like it was one of their regular topics of discussion. But I am a bit surprised she mentioned it given that 97.1 usually stays away from political discussions. Edited October 22 by Mr.TaterSalad 1 Quote
pfife Posted October 22 Posted October 22 I can tell Doug is by the food he eats lol. Gator has made some comments that were ripping on slump as well. Ive heard some epic rants from rico beard too Quote
Mr.TaterSalad Posted October 22 Posted October 22 6 minutes ago, pfife said: I can tell Doug is by the food he eats lol. Gator has made some comments that were ripping on slump as well. Ive heard some epic rants from rico beard too They are all private citizens, entitled to their private lives and political beliefs and opinions. That said, I have wondered when listening where they fall on the political spectrum. If I had to guess, my guesses would be these. Dems/liberal/progressive: Costa, Heather, Karsch, Rico, Hatchet, Wojo, Riger Apolitical/they all suck: Gator, Valenti Republican/Conservative/MAGA: Jansen, TJ Lang, Kenny Cott, Caputo Quote
pfife Posted October 22 Posted October 22 Yep. Agree. Except im not sure about caputo or kenny cott but coulda missed a telling statement Quote
oblong Posted October 22 Posted October 22 what's troubling is... the people that run the GOP today simply don't care. They don't care if people suffer, if they die. Doesn't matter if they are old, young.... all that matters to republicans today is the grift and the social media "own". Quote
oblong Posted October 22 Posted October 22 I think any agent that can't do that should be fired immediately. 3 Quote
CMRivdogs Posted October 22 Posted October 22 Growing up as "white trash" I support this message found on Facebook Quote I am "drink wine from a plastic glass" and "eat steak on a paper plate" white-trash. I'm not, "paint the inner trim in the White House gold and make it gaudy so I can pretend to be a king" white-trash. We are not the same. 😂 2 2 1 Quote
Hongbit Posted October 22 Posted October 22 1 hour ago, pfife said: Yep. Agree. Except im not sure about caputo or kenny cott but coulda missed a telling statement Kenny Kott’s a UGA fan. SEC fandom is dead giveaway for maga. Quote
pfife Posted October 22 Posted October 22 6 minutes ago, Hongbit said: Kenny Kott’s a UGA fan. SEC fandom is dead giveaway for maga. I buy it lol Quote
Mr.TaterSalad Posted October 22 Posted October 22 Over and over and over again you hear from farmers and those whose economic livelihood relies on farming and agriculture, about just how bad things are getting for them. I have no clue who this guy voted for. Hopefully not Trump. But you're seeing the negative economic consequences of Trump's tariffs and on farmers and rural Americans all over the country. 1 Quote
CMRivdogs Posted October 22 Posted October 22 All the Kings Horses and All the Kings Men can't undo what this pretender has done 1 Quote
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