US Hawks Hang Gliding Association

No doubt

To receive the justice that one deserves in this country it is most often dependent upon being above the middle class to afford it.
To make someone bend to the rule of law, constitution, statutes, or ordinances absent money - it's not likely to happen.
All the middle class can afford to be is a philosophic observer.
As George Carlin put it: "The poor are just there to scare the hell out of the middle class!"
If a foe knows people in power I can be charged and summoned.
Whether I'm in the right or not, if summoned, and depending on the degree to which I decided to resist, a man will come to my door
in body armor, equipped with a club, hand cuffs, pepper spray, taser, and a gun. (sometimes used in that order.)
Intimidation under the color of law is supposed to be a violation of Title # 18, Chapter # 13, Section 241. (of little use.)
If the word were to leak that someone applied for a concealed carry permit for self protection one may never need to purchase a weapon and still enjoy a higher degree of respect for ones rights by an ardent foe.
Think about it -- If intimidation keeps you in line it will probably work on someone else.
It is the system that we the people have given consent for our society to use to keep us in line and if we can't find help then isn't self help all that is left?
How often are the police there to stop an assault?
More often when seconds count the police are minutes away. (My friend told me that respect is really 90% fear.)

I was watching a few videos related to the recent shooting of Daunte Wright, and I found this video of the fatal shooting of officer Darian Jarrot. This is a chilling video of the dangers that police officers face every day.



As Margie's original video alludes, I was unjustly arrested 3 times by the corrupt San Diego City Police Department in 2014 and 2015. I spent 3 nights in jail - one for each arrest. All three times I appeared for my court hearing to find that no charges were filed ("You're free to go Mr. Kuczewski, and your bail money will be returned").

So I am no fan of the deep corruption in the San Diego Police Department. But we must never let the rotten and corrupt officers diminish our respect for the brave men and women who put their lives on the line every day to protect us from the despicable dregs of humanity who infest our society.

When George Floyd was killed, I was disgusted by the brutality of his treatment. But I was more disgusted by the political forces that held him up to be a martyred saint. George Floyd was a convicted criminal with an arrest record for armed robbery of an unarmed woman. That does not justify his death, but it also does not justify his worship. From what I have read, the same is true of Daunte Wright. Sadly, our young people have been so programmed with racial guilt that they are blind to the "content of one's character" portion of Dr. King's famous words.

Good Lives Matter ... most.

Bill Cummings wrote:  :
Think about it -- If intimidation keeps you in line it will probably work on someone else.
It is the system that we the people have given consent for our society to use to keep us in line and if we can't find help then isn't self help all that is left?
How often are the police there to stop an assault?
More often when seconds count the police are minutes away. (My friend told me that respect is really 90% fear.)

I just wanted to focus on that last part of the quote from Bill's friend: "respect is really 90% fear".

I think that varies a lot from person to person, and that variance may explain a lot of the friction and misunderstanding that we have in our society.

I believe there are certainly many people who only give "respect" out of fear. But I think that's because they are incapable of true respect, and use that word as a nicer sounding substitute for a fear that they don't want to admit.

For me, fear and respect are highly decoupled. I have tremendous respect for Joe Faust, but I have no fear of him at all. I respect him in great part because his kindness does not generate fear. In fact, when I think of all the people who I respect, I find that I have very little fear of them.

On the other hand, there are despicable people who I fear greatly because they are harmful to others and are willing to continue to be harmful to others. I have no respect (zero) for those people.

I am now suspecting that the differences among individuals in their pairing of fear and respect may be a huge factor in their conflict. I think, for example, that David Jebb could see no distinction between fear and respect, and so he tried to gain respect by instilling fear. That probably worked well for him with others who - like him - could not distinguish fear from respect. But there were others of us who refuse - absolutely refuse - to give respect out of fear. The more that Jebb would try to gain respect out of fear with us, the less we would actually respect him.