This isn't about Obumble... it's about Drumpf... and his throwing Black Folk a very small bone, before tossing them back under the bus again.
I see you wish to avoid what your hero has not done. So let me explain it this way: Trump is at least trying to do something. It doesn't matter whether you think it will make a difference or not. What matters here is if there are results....
1. Obumble is not my hero.
2. I am not avoiding Obumble's miserable track record with respect to reducing inner-city violence.
3. I am focused like a laser beam on the miserly pittance that Drumpf is throwing at a problem requiring far more resources than a paltry 20 ATF agents.
4. I am in complete agreement - what matters here are results.
5. It is my position that we will NOT see substantive results from this bit of window-dressing that your boy has arranged.
...
Here's merely serving-up Window Dressing with a crappy contribution like 20 ATF agents... and, this isn't about other Presidents... it's about Drumpf.
Oh really? And what goal does he hope to achieve with this so-called window dressing of yours? So let me reiterate: he's sending agents to a city and state that voted against him and probably will the next election...
Yes.
Really.
It's about Drumpf.
Yes.
He's sending-in agents to a city and state that voted against him and probably will in the next election.
Trouble is, it's a drop in the bucket.
...All this talk about how Republicans only care about the rich and could care less about the blacks and the poor are pure bullshit...
Yes and No.
If Republicans were so goddamned effective at selling that trumped-up notion, they would have more of the Black and Poor vote now, wouldn't they?
They care, alright.
As a lofty concept piece and to some very modest actual extent.
It's just that they about Balance Sheets and P&L statements
MORE.
As their legislation informs the American Electorate every single day that they're in-session.
...Unlike DumBama (yes I'm bringing him up again) he's demonstrating that he's the President of all people and not just the people that voted for him. That's a hell of a lot more than Hillary or DumBama has shown to Republican cities or states...
1. A neighbor has a life-threatening problem that requires a thousand dollars to fix.
2. The previous owner of your house talked a good game but never did diddly-squat to help that neighbor.
3. You move into that same house.
4. You have millions at your disposal.
5. You claim to have the answers and promise to fix your neighbor's problem for him.
6. You throw ten dollars at his thousand-dollar problem.
7. You defense that "Well, I did more than the other guy" is sophomoric and untenable, in the context of a miserly and miserable and highly-flawed execution.
...
And there is where you are wrong. If I made a wrong call here (i.e., Drumpf's 20 ATF agents are like a teacup against a tsunami of lawlessness on Chicago's West and South Sides), I will gladly 'fess up. What is your gauge for "improvement" ? What quantification would you care to apply to that gauge? What is your timeline for achieving that quantification?
My gauge for improvement is a reduction of needless murders. My gauge for improvement is reducing the amount of drugs that come into that city that are responsible for those murders. My gauge for improvement is getting deadly weapons out of the hands of gangs in Chicago.
Well, now you've given us your gauge.
Thank you, for that.
I repeat the related question... what is your '
quantification' to be measured by your gauge... what might be an acceptable reduction, attributable to these 20 agents? Guess.
I repeat the related question... what is your '
timeline' to be applied against your gauge... when might we see such reductions, attributable to these 20 agents? Guess.
The truth of the matter is, you cannot make an
intelligent guess in such matters, no more than I can prove that 20 agents are a drop-in-the-bucket, and mere window-dressing.
Stalemate.
I hold to my common-sense position, that 20 ATF agents are grotesquely and pathetically insufficient, to counter the massive problem on Chicago's West and South Sides.
Doesn't matter a damn, whether the other guy did anything or not.
What matters in this context is whether this "move" is likely to put a noticeable dent in Drumpf's promise to fix the problem.
I, for one, do not believe that it will put such a dent in his promise.
Time will give us the answer to that question.
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Good exchange, BTW... thanks, and kudos.
